Arrested engineer says he makes extra N50,000 daily from pipeline vandalism

The long arm of the law has caught up with a suspected pipeline vandal Fatai Karounwi alongside 10 other suspected militants and vandals who were paraded by the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State on Tuesday.

While fielding questions from journalists’, Karounwi who revealed that he had vandalised over 40 pipes before he was arrested by the police also confessed that he makes the sum of N50,000 daily from the act.

Nicknamed ‘Kokoro’, Karounwi, who said he was introduced to the crime by his friend Oyebanji Agboola, aka ‘Fish’ said in his confessional statement that he had been involved in the act of vandalisng pipelines for three years.

“I am an ‘engineer.’ I live at Ogijo and was arrested after I received a phone call from my friend. I didn’t know that the police had arrested him. I work with the vandals. I usually assist in drilling holes into pipelines. We move into the high sea to steal the fuel. They pay me N50,000 any day I work with them. I have vandalised more than 40 different pipelines. We are usually many that go for pipeline vandalism operations. We work on land and sea,” he said.

Continuing, he added that; “A friend of mine, Fish, introduced me to pipeline vandalism. I have been working with this set of vandals for two months, but I have been into pipeline vandalism for the past three years.”

Other arrested pipeline vandals include; Tochukwu Ohanexim, 38; Oluwadamilare Ojo, 32; Akeju Adeniyi, 38; Musbau Afolabi, 29; Musa Akanbi, 32; Yusuf Ajiboye ,26; Ojo Ige, 28; and Innocent Ikechukwu, 42.

Reacting to their arrest, SP Dolapo Badmos, the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, said the police recovered two pump-action rifles, four live cartridges, two pumping machines, one army bullet-proof vest, one army fez cap and one Toyota Corolla from the suspects.

“The AIG, angered by the recent ambush and murder of four policemen and an army captain at Isawo by militant vandals, ordered the ZIS to ensure vigilance and also rid the community of criminals,” SP Badmos said.

Continuing, she added that; “Information was received by the commander of the ZIS that suspected militants, who were also vandals responsible for the murder of security operatives in Isawo recently, were noticed around Ogijo, in the Ikorodu area. Detectives were detailed to track down the hoodlums, leading to the arrest of the suspects. We also recovered 150 jerrycans of petroleum product from them.”

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