Army Intercepts Truck Of Crude Oil In Aba

                                       

Army Officers from 144 Battalion, 14 Brigade Ohafia, Abia State on Monday in Aba intercepted a truck with no registration number conveying about 33,000 litres of unrefined crude oil allegedly gotten from pipeline through illegal means.

The Mack truck was said to have been discovered through military intelligence unit where it was packed along Udeagbala Road, Abayi Aba to be ferried to an unknown destination.

The driver and conductor of the truck according to sources, were said to have absconded to avoid being arrested by security agencies.

Brigadier General Adeosun Lamidi who was represented by Capt. Ibrahim Amaya, in-charge of Pipeline monitoring team speaking to journalists before setting the tanker ablaze said they were destroying the tanker because the driver and the conductor were not seen and because the truck doesn't have any means of identification.

"We got information about a truck coming from Rivers State conveying crude oil to unknown destination. This is one of the so many trucks we have burnt in Aba and Ukwa area.

This is not the first time we are doing this. We have previously set ablaze two long trucks with unrefined crude and two container size truck with locally refined crude respectively before now. This is the fourth truck we are setting ablaze this way.

Burning trucks with illegally gotten crude oil is to serve as a deterrent to others who would want to lease their trucks for this kind of illicit and unpatriotic business. Our Commander, Brig. General Adeosun is a man that has a zero tolerance for pipeline vandalization and the federal government also tough on it.

As the vandals are working hard to beat us, we are also working hard in conjunction with other security agencies to also outsmart them," Capt. Amaya assured

Amaya said that investigation was still ongoing to track the pay masters wherever they might be hiding.