FORMER MINISTER OF INTERIOR ARRESTED OVER ALLEGED THEFT OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

The National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) yesterday arrested a former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, over alleged stealing of petroleum products.

Some stolen petroleum products and a hijacked vessel were said to have been traced to the premises of his company, Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, in Apapa, Lagos.

The stolen products were alleged to have been hijacked from a vessel by some pirates who were arrested and quizzed last Tuesday at NIMASA Resource Centre, Kirikiri.

NIMASA also impounded a vessel, M.T Ejenavi, that was alleged to have been used to hijack the products before they were ferried and sold to ready buyers. One of the alleged masterminds of the gang, Nicholas Okotie, was paraded before the press as the owner of the vessel.

Briefing newsmen yesterday, the Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, NIMASA, Barrister Callistus Nwabueze, said that the arrest of Iheanacho is not unconnected with the previous arrest of the suspected pirates, adding that NIMASA had made it clear that it was looking for kingpins behind the hijacks and oil theft going on on the nation’s waterways.

Nwabueze said that it was in the course of further investigations that the agency discovered that the stolen oil and the vessel that was recently hijacked off Cotonou were kept at integrated Oil and Gas premises.

As at the time of filing this report, the former minister was still being interrogated by the NIMASA Guard Command.

Head of the Guard Command, Captain Promise Dappa, said that what has been discovered so far is that the syndicate involves some highly placed individuals and that it is a long chain, which is internationally linked.

When contacted earlier before his arrest, Captain Iheanacho had told Saturday Sun that the entire development borders on a smear campaign by some people to destroy him and take over his business.

He said that he did not buy or sell any stolen product.

The former minister, however, noted that those that have issues with security agencies concerning stolen petroleum products only used his company’s facility for storage.

Last Tuesday, a joint operation by the managements of NIMASA and Global West Vessels Specialists (GWVS) had led to the interception of a vessel, M .T. Grace, laden with suspected stolen refined petroleum products. (Culled from The Sun)