The Nigerian Army has said troops of 81 Division Nigerian Army (NA), have busted 2 Filling Stations involved in smuggling petroleum products around the border town at Imeko Afon Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The operation was carried out alongside Operation “Swift Response” in charge of Joint Border Drill Patrol.
Following the rising cases of smugglers around the border communities, early this year, the federal government had constituted a security patrol, comprising the Army, Customs, Police, and other security agencies to checkmate activities of the smugglers.
However, the patrol troops deployed for anti-smuggling operations on patrol, during routine patrol, discovered that all the filling stations at Imeko Afon Local Government Area were not dispensing fuel.
But in a statement by Major Olaniyi Osoba, Acting Deputy Director on Friday, 81 Division Army Public Relations, he said investigation revealed that most of the filling stations that were not dispensing fuel during the day were active at night, supplying fuel to their cronies.
According to him, following this discovery, the troops in conjunction with personnel of Operation “Swift Response” conducted a dawn operation on 16 July, 2022, and discovered 2 filling stations siphoning Premium Motor Spirit into Jerry cans at Imeko.
He said on sighting the troop, the suspected fuel attendant and buyers fled the scene, adding that a search behind the station and its surroundings led to the recovery of filled jerrican already loaded into vehicles and ready to be smuggled out.
“At the end of the operation, a total of Two Hundred and Three (30 Litres) Jerricans were confiscated, out of which one hundred and forty-eight were filled with PMS. One dane gun, 3 generators, 4 vehicles and 6 motorcycles were discovered hidden in the bush path,” the statement said.
He said the items seized were handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service.