The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Lagos, on Monday, said it discovered another illegal jetty in Kirikiri, where petroleum products are discharged illegally at Kirikiri area of Apapa, Lagos.
The latest discovery comes less than a week after an illegal jetty was discovered in Marina, Lagos. Two people were allegedly arrested in that raid.
In the current discovery, the four barges filled with AGO, also known as diesel, were discovered during the visit of the DPR’s monitoring team to DICONSalt Jetty, Lagos.
The four barges are MV Priye, MV Kome, MV Soa, Fuadl, all containing diesel.
The team arrested two of the suspected operators, who claimed they were working for the owner of the barges.
They were immediately handed over to the Police Headquarters, Zone 2, Lagos, for investigation.
Wasiu Sayebo, the Manager of the Downstream Operation, who led the team, told newsmen that action would be taken against the culprits.
He said the agency would continue to monitor suspected areas where petroleum products were being discharged illegally in the country.
“We went to the Kirikiri and Ibafon jetties where we discovered two abandoned ships, pumping machines, gallons and places where they stored the petroleum products,” he said. “We have made consultation with NIMASA so that we can join forces to ensure that there is no more illegal movement of petroleum products in the country.
“We suspect AGO as the content of the gallons because we have seen the barges and the tools they use in working and we are going to take further actions on them.”
The monitoring team also said it discovered a fishing company that had a barge and was involved in illegal oil bunkering.
The DPR had warned that people refrained from engaging in `cooked AGO’
business.
The agency shut down two barges laden with AGO of about 2 million litters and three abandoned ships used by illegal operators to carry out illegal petroleum marketing, last week.
