Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command under the Mushin Area
Command led by the Area Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP
Olasoji Olabayo on Sunday swooped on a Jet A1 siphoning and smuggling
ring who had been stealing the products for months and selling it as
kerosene to unsuspecting members of the public.
The Jet A1 aviation fuel smuggling ring was
smashed at a bush site in the Richfield area of Ajao Estate allong the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport following the busting of a very
thick iron pipe supplying the fuel to the international airport depot.
ACP
Olusoji, who Vanguard reports mobilized four patrol vans and well-armed
team of police officers drawn from the Area Command headquarters and
Ajao divisional Police Station, was accompanied by the DPO, CSP Adejoh
Abdul.
After the siege on the smuggling site and combing of the
bush where the smuggled fuel were being hidden, 5 suspects, including
three women and two men were arrested while Jerry cans of various sizes
loaded with the product were recovered.
ACP Olasoji later
ordered that the suspects be detained at the Ajao Estate Police Station
while directing that efforts should be made to arrest other colluding
members of the smuggling ring.
He noted that apart from the fact
that smuggling of the product is economic sabotage; the criminal
activity of selling aviation fuel to unsuspecting members of the public
was even more risky as nobody could determine the dangerous implication
of using aviation fuel for cooking.
Also speaking, CSP Adejoh
said information about the nefarious activities of the gang got the
police a few days ago after which surveillance was mounted on the site
leading to the breakthrough in the arrest.
