TheCable

The operations of a syndicate using the cover of security agencies to vandalise petroleum pipelines and steal products that end up being sold for as low as N40 per litre has been exposed.

Investigations by salkida.com showed how the undercover group from the southern part of the country connives with their northern counterparts to carry out this nefarious act.

According to the website, run by Ahmad Salkida, an investigative Nigerian journalist based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the syndicate has established a distribution network through which their products are sold to presumed legitimate dealers.

The vandals have at their disposal a clandestine group that criss-crosses the major oil companies operating in the downstream sector and strategic formations of the Nigerian security.

A vehicle containing the stolen products

“It is usually from their well-placed contacts in the oil companies operating in the downstream sector that the vandals usually get information on when to strike at a particular pipeline point,” the report stated.

“With the cover of usually well-armed security personnel in official uniforms with operation vehicles, the vandals move in, pry open a point on the pipeline, drain as much content as their capacity could carry.

“From the pipeline point they usually divert the content to some other underground location for processing and loading. It is at the loading point that all vestiges of criminality is eliminated as the legitimate oil dealers are the ones that take the fuel from this point in their trucks.

“This particular syndicate hardly damage pipelines, they turn the pipes on and off with the locally constructed taps they created, and till date, the syndicates work with security officials that give them the necessary cover they require to succeed.

“After loading the trucks meant to head across the border or to the northern parts of the country are usually disguised to create the impression it is ferrying foodstuff or other non-petroleum goods.”

One of the transporters involved in the shady deal told Salkida.com that he pays his way through whenever he is unable to get security personnel to accompany him on his trips.

One of the illegal sites

“Sometimes we don’t get escorts; we pay our way through checkpoints all the way from Auchi to Kano,” he said.

“We usually sell the petrol between N40 to N50 per litre at point of purchase before heading back to reload.”

When asked why the products are disposed at such giveaway rates, the transporter said: “It is cheap because it is stolen; it is in high demand because there is scarcity; it is easy to transport because of complicity by the security agencies.”

Sabotage of pipelines have been a drain on the economy, as it is partly responsible for the inability of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to meet up with petrol supply across the country, subjecting the people to undue  hardship.