The Concerted efforts by the Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and security agencies to combat the menace of oil theft and pipeline vandalism received a major boost with the capture of Mr. Shuaibu Ogunmola, an alleged notorious oil pipeline kingpin,whose illegal activities through the years, led to loss of millions of litres of products along the Lagos Atlas Cove strip in the strategic System 2B pipeline network.
In a release today in Abuja, NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said Shuaibu was captured recently at his luxury hotel in Ilashe community, along the Badagry Creek by officers and men of Operation AWATSE, a Joint Military Task Force on oil theft and pipeline vandalism anchored by the Western Naval Command, Apapa, Lagos.
The corporation explained that investigations thus far revealed that Shuaibu had operated a thriving oil theft racket for decades, hacking pipelines in some island communities in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State along the System 2B network right- of- way.
Providing details on the mode of operation of the Shuaibu-led syndicate, NNPC said the gang executed their illegal trade by digging boles metres away from the corporation’s products pipeline, which essentially serves as storage tanks for products directly syphoned from the lines at a hacking point.
These holes which are cast in drums receive products simultaneously from the labyrinth of pipelines connected to the trunk line directly linked to the ruptured NNPC line.
The products so harvested are later scoped or transferred into jerrycans and drums and are sold to ready buyers who usually throng the beachside.
From that point, the NNPC spokesperson stated, the products were shipped to Cotonou which has a firmly established market for smuggled Nigerian fuel…