Navy hands over five suspected oil thieves to police in Lagos

• The suspects were apprehended in Itolu community in the Lekki area of Lagos by the NNS patrol team stationed at the Forward Operations Base (FOB) Lekki
• Although these suspects were captured, others in two additional wooden boats managed to evade arrest
  

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Commodore Kolawale Oguntuga, the Commander of the Nigerian Navy (NNS) Beecroft in Apapa, Lagos, handed over five individuals suspected of oil theft to the Lagos State Police Command on Friday.

Oguntuga stated that the suspects were apprehended in the Itolu community of the Lekki area in Lagos on Tuesday by the NNS patrol team stationed at the Forward Operations Base (FOB) Lekki.

The arrest was made following a gunshot sound heard by the operatives, who promptly responded to a distress call from local youths in the vicinity. Although the team managed to capture these suspects, other gang members in two additional wooden boats managed to evade capture.

The commander noted that the team also recovered a boat engine and arrested four individuals found wearing attire resembling that of Tantitan Security Pipeline Surveillance personnel, along with one boat operator.

“Upon arrival at the scene, the naval team met four individuals dressed in black polo shirts with TANTITAN inscribed on the back, trying to recover a dismantled outboard engine from a local.

“It was after their arrest that the patrol team realised that the four individuals were part of a movement of a large wooden boat with two fibre boats.

“The four individuals beckoned on the two fibre boats to approach them, but when they noticed NN patrol teams, the boats altered courses, fled and abandoned the large wooden boat laden with 11 x 1000L Geepee tanks with product suspected to be stolen crude oil,” he said.

Mr Oguntade said the suspects were handed over to the police as part of the synergies in crime fighting by NNS for further investigation and prosecution.

The state commissioner of police, Idowu Owohunwa, who received the suspects and the exhibits at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja, commended the NNS for the synergy in crime fighting in Lagos State.

Mr Owohunwa said the handing over of the suspects to the police is a sign that security agencies operating in Lagos are united in crime fighting.

“We are taking the suspects for further investigation. We will track down those at large. This synergy is a continuous operation,” he said.