Six citizens of the Republic of Benin have been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for allegedly siphoning fuel from vandalised pipelines of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
While the entire country is in a sorry state owing to the ongoing fuel scarcity and the lines at the filling stations have been a source of dismay to many Nigerians, the suspects – Suru Hunpevi, 30; Messel Hungo, 25; Mark Huntoji, 22; Emmanuel Somoten, 18; Joseph Gbehan, 21 and 29-year-old Gbenonu Jonas – were stealing fuel with an unknown objective.
The suspects were caught up on Sunday on the sea in the Badagry area of Lagos while they were about to cross the border to their country with their ‘loot’.
There were about 53 drums of about 13,250 litres of diesel recovered from the suspects while a pumping machine and the two speedboats they used for the operation were also impounded.