Policeman, soldier lead gang hijacking fuel-laden tankers

Herbert Mbachu, a police Inspector, and Sikiru Balogun, an army Corporal, decided to use their uniforms to not only aid crime but lead other like-minded criminals to hijack fuel tankers from their owners on the highways.

The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, disclosed this at a recent press briefing. He said nine members of a gang which specialised in hijacking fuel-laden trucks and selling their content were arrested by his command’s Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS) operatives.

Odude listed the suspects as Johnson Precious (45), who was the gang leader; Herbert Mbachu (55), a police Inspector; Sikiru Balogun (46), a soldier; Lawal Olalekan (26), Sodiq Onifade (26), Timothy Ayodele (53), Oluwadare Segun (30), Gabriel Olanrewaju (39) and Gbadegesin Olawale (45).

According to the commissioner, the gang, before its members were arrested on May 15, had hijacked about six trucks with the aid of Mbachu and Balogun, using their uniforms, on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ibadan-Oyo Road and Iwo Road, Ibadan.

He said the gang snatched a fuel-laden DAF tanker with registration number APC 937 XB, which was carrying 33,000 litres of fuel, at a bad portion on Oyo Road, at Sasa, Ojoo, at at about 8.00p.m. The driver and his assistant were abducted and later released, he added.

“The tanker was driven to Efon Alaye in Ekiti State where the fuel was discharged into an underground tank in a moribund petrol station. The tanker was abandoned on Akure-Ife Road where it was recovered by our men after the case was reported,” Odude said.

Saturday Tribune learnt that F-SARS operatives had mounted a surveillance which resulted in the arrest of one of the suspects, Sodiq and, subsequently, others.

Recovered from suspects were N2 million, which was part of the proceeds from the sale of the stolen fuel, two Honda vehicles and a Nokia C-200 phone.

In an interview with Saturday Tribune, the leader of the gang, Precious Johnson, said he was into oil bunkering in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, before coming to Ibadan and starting pipeline vandalism with one Ndubuisi.

“However, after every operation, I was only given N10,000 or N15,000. I stopped working with him in 2013 after I noticed he was only using me,” he said.

Narrating the event that led to his exit from Ndubuisi’s gang, Johnson said: “Whenever we wanted to go and load at pipeline, we would ‘settle’ the people living in the surrounding community, particularly the hunters. However, one day, we didn’t ‘settle’ them and went ahead to load. After I had connected our hose, the truck was yet to be filled up when a hunter shot at us. The tanker we were loading exploded and the fire caught an 18-seater bus that had been loaded with drums of petrol.

“Others and I were injured. Ndubuisi and some security operatives whom he had paid and who were keeping watch at the entrance of the road that led to where we were siphoning the fuel were the ones who came to my rescue. For every operation, Ndubuisi was always with security operatives who were supposed to be guarding the pipelines.

“My sister invited a herbalist to help me extract the pellets that penetrated my body after she told them a lie on how I got shot. Because my body was reeking of fuel, the man became suspicious. After the treatment, he went to report to the police and I was arrested. That was two years ago.”

Hijacking

To be frank, after the bunkering incident, I began tanker hijacking. However, I don’t know what really came over me. I believe it is the devil. I have to pray for the mercy of God. I have only done two. I did one in December 2016 and another one in April 2017.

How I met the Inspector

I met the Inspector at a newsstand in Moniya. When he realised that I was from Rivers State, be became friends with me, although he is Igbo. It was during our discussion that he complained about how things were hard. I suggested that he joined me in hijacking fuel tankers and he accepted. We have done two now.

The first one, we sold one full tank for N2.5 million and I got N1.1 million. Five people followed me for the hijacking. The soldier I used then collected N300,000, while the Inspector collected N200,000. The driver collected N200,000.

We sold the stolen fuel to one Segun and Timothy. We sold the second one for N3.9 million. My share was over N2 million. For the first operation, I gave the owner of the car we used N160,000, and for the second operation, I gave the car owner N320,000. The soldier who followed me then was transferred to the North East to fight Boko Haram.

Modus operandi

During an operation, we all would first stay in a car. After spotting our target, we would move closer and the soldier and the police Inspector, who would be in their uniforms holding torches, would flag down the tanker.

“The Inspector and the soldier would just act as if they had arrested the truck driver, accusing him of conveying a tanker loaded with product siphoned from vandalised pipeline. The other members would take over the steering of the tanker and divert it. We were usually strengthened with the military and police uniforms. We didn’t operate with weapons, and we never killed or injured our victims. After siphoning fuel from the truck, we usually parked them where they would be seen.

Also, the Inspector, Mbachu, who said he had spent 34 years in service, confirmed that he knew Johnson at the newsstand in the Moniya area of Ibadan where they started a friendship. “Precious told me he was into oil bunkering. He said he usually went for operation with uniformed men but the people had been cheating him.

“He said he had decided to co-opt me and a soldier, and would be ‘settling’ us. I operated with him twice and he gave me N200,000 each time. I was the one who took him to a bar I used to patronise in Ojoo when he said he needed another soldier. It was there the barman got Balogun for him and we did the second operation together.

“I got enlisted in the Nigeria Police in 1983. That is 34 years, and I have one more year in service. I had never engaged myself in this kind of thing before.

“What I did is regrettable but the Nigerian public should not lose confidence in the police. They should know that majority of them are good. Out of 1,000 policemen, only about five or six might be bad. It is like that in every section of the society,” Mbachu said.

The soldier, Balogun, said he joined the army in 1996. He said he thought he was following Precious and others to arrest those involved in bunkering. “That was 21 years ago. I entered as a recruit,” he said.

Balogun, who claimed to be one of the troops at Garrison Command of the 2 Division of the Nigerian Army before his arrest, told Saturday Tribune: “Precious told me he was into bunkering but those he was dealing with were cheating him. He said he wanted me to assist him by arresting them.

“That was why I agreed to follow him. Honestly, I know I made a mistake. I have spent 21 years in service and I had never done this kind of thing before. I even just returned from Warri on a six-month duty. I was given N180,000. It was because of the policeman that I agreed to follow him.”

One of the buyers of the stolen fuel, Timothy, also told Saturday Tribune that he and his relation, Oluwadare Segun, sold the fuel to one Tayo who owns a filling statiion (name withheld) in Ado Ekiti and one Ibironke who also owns a filling station along Ilesa-Akure Expressway.

“We sold 15,000 litres to the owner of the Ado Ekiti filling station in December 2016, and 10,900 litres in April this year. We sold the first at N139.50 per litre and the second, N140 per litre. Both dealers did not ask for the waybill from us.”