NSCDC, Navy impound petroleum products being smuggled from Nigeria to Cameroon

Oredola Adeola

As part of joint efforts to arrest the rising spate of illegal trading and smuggling of petroleum products from Nigeria to Cameroon, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Nigerian Navy Ship Victory (NNSV) and Sector 4, Operation Delta Safe, operating in Cross River, have confiscated 16,000 litres of stolen products being hoarded to be smuggled to Cameroon.

Mr Samuel Fadeyi, the Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Cross River made this known in a statement on Monday in Calabar while inspecting the impounded petroleum products.

According to him, the owners of the confiscated products have been having a field day selling Nigerian petroleum products at cheaper rates than the conventional petrol stations in Cameroon.

He also disclosed that the smugglers of petroleum products from Nigeria to Cameroon were arrested through collaboration with the Nigerian Navy Ship Victory (NNSV) and Sector 4, Operation Delta Safe.

The Commandant said, “The stolen products which were mainly Automotive Gas Oil, (AGO) popularly known as diesel were stored in drums and gallons and hidden in different trailer parks in the state.

He said the products were confiscated following a directive from the Commandant-General of NSCDC that some suspicious activities were going on in some parks.

The commandant said they went around trailer parks in Cross River and discovered that hawkers indeed had a lot of petroleum products stored in drums and hidden.

According to him, the storage of petroleum products was a highly regulated field and required a license for anyone to go into it because of the danger it can pose to society if not properly handled.

“Within the last two weeks, we have impounded about 16,000 litres of AGO from different spots in the state.

“Some of the places we went to, we met a lot of hostilities, so we made sure that we destroy the capacity of the perpetrators from continuing in the business and quickly exit the area to avoid human casualties.

“Some of these hawkers work like cartels, once they see security officials they attack and escape but we make sure we impound the products,” he said.

Fadeyi further said he had reached out to the leadership of the parks and their unions for a meeting as the activities of the hawkers hurt their integrity.

He however noted that the joint task force raided the parks deliberately to send a strong message to smugglers, because of the negative impact of the activities on the Nigerian economy and environment.