Ex-militants impound illegal oil badges in Ondo

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Ex-militants led by Chief Bebopiri Ajube, on Thursday seized five badges laden with crude oil on Ondo waterways from hoodlums.

Operations Manager of Ajube’s Gallery Security Services Limited, Mr. Ebi Molos, stated this when he took journalists to Bolowo, a riverside community in Ese Odo Local Government Area of the state where the seizure was made.

Putting the total stolen crude at 1.65m litres, he said each of the five badges contained at least 10 tankers, having 33,000 litre capacity each”

Molos added that seven speed boats and 14 engines were also seized from the hoodlums.

He said, “Our company is registered with the Federal Government for the security of the riverside areas and to arrest all forms of criminal activities in the area by assisting government agencies like the Army, the Navy and the police.

“Most of the government security agents cannot come into the creeks, so we are assisting them to fish out the criminals. It is a great joy that since the establishment of our company, we have been checking the hoodlums.

“We seized the badges, speedboats and engines at the Ondo State border from the hoodlums, who were bringing them from Delta and Edo states.

“The hoodlums, who are very crafty, saw our men from afar and ran away, leaving the stolen items behind.”

Molos added, “Many of the engines were stolen from our neighbouring communities. They stole them in collaboration with some hoodlums in those communities.”

He said all the impounded items would be handed over to security agents after preliminary investigations would have been concluded by the security outfit.

He said, “We will hand over the seized items to the security agencies. Each of the badges can fill at least 10 tankers as each has 33,000– litre capacity.

“If the government can support us, we will do more. Financially we are not getting the necessary support from government.

“If we sustain our efforts, criminal activities in the riverside areas will stop and the country will earn more from crude oil because we would have put an end to the operations of vandals and oil bunkerers.

“Those who engage in illegal refining are using the stolen engines to remove crude oil from the vandalised pipes lines.

“We have arrested a lot of them and handed them over to the government. They have more than 50 locations where they refine crude oil but we have dislodged them all.

“We will ensure that they won’t see crude oil to use as their raw material. This will force them to stop the business and relocate from our territory where they are endangering the lives of our people.”