An early morning explosion rocked the Akinbo Jetty, Ilado area, close to Atlas Cove area of Apapa yesterday when some suspected pipelines vandals attempted to siphon petroleum products from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines in the area.
It was gathered that the suspects however left behind their boats and over 200 jerrycans when the pipeline valve exploded, and fled in their bid to evade arrest.
This is coming just as the Senate President, David Mark, recently recommended the death penalty for oil thieves. His call was influenced by the alarming spate of crude oil theft that has beguiled the nation of late.
These recent acts of vandalism has raised concerns on the increasing spate of pipeline vandalism across the nation especially in the Lagos area, which is often accompanied by explosions leading to destruction of lives and properties.
THISDAY exclusive investigations had earlier revealed that some of these pipeline vandals usually siphon the stolen products by connecting their pipes to such pipelines, which is hidden under the ground to avoid detection.
It was also revealed that these suspects usually work in tandem with some members of staff of the corporation who at the agreed signal, close off the valve from their end and connect it to the vandals pipe which then runs into the already prepared jerrycans.
However, in this case, naval sources maintained that it was yet to be ascertained if such was applicable in the Ilado explosion, adding that there was no act of sabotage from the NNPC, meaning that the vandals did not work in conjunction with anyone from the corporation.
Confirming the incident, the Spokesperson, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), South-west, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, had earlier told THISDAY that it was a large barge conveying PMS that exploded.
He said, "Rescue efforts from NNPC and other specialised agencies put out the fire. The fire started around 1am but was put out by d NNPC special team.
"The fire did not start from the main pipeline rather the valves supplying the product was what exploded. The first batch of our team reached there around 7.30am and the fire was finally put out at the Akinbo Jetty of Atlas Cove around 10.48 am.
"Cooling and pegging process have commenced and It is not a barge but vandalism of NNPC pipeline against earlier information that a barge exploded. About 200 jerrycan of 50 litres were recovered as well as three burning boats of the vandals were recovered."
When asked the reaction of the police since the fire happened on land near their post, a naval source told THISDAY that when the explosion happened, security personnel quickly rushed to the scene but met a deserted area as the suspects had fled.
When contacted, the Command Information Officer, Western Naval Command (WNC), Lieutenant Commander Jerry Omodara, confirmed the incident but stressed that there was no casualty as claimed.
He said, "The situation has been brought under control and I spoke with the Commander NNS Beecroft, Commodore Chris Ezekobe, and he confirmed that he had already deployed some officers to the area to access the level of the explosion.
"Contrary to speculations, he confirmed that there was no casualty but at the moment, we are yet to identify the chief cause of the explosion but it happened around the police post area in Atlas Cove."
He added, "The fire started at about burnt 4am and burnt till about 10am and preliminary investigations revealed that vandals broke the pipeline valve to siphon the products when it exploded.
"The explosion aborted their attempt to steal some products and they disappeared before rescue team comprising of NEMA, Police, NEMA and other security agencies came.
"It was also gathered that the fire was put out by the NNPC fire service. What they did was to stop the flow of products and then extinguished the fire. Again, the navy responded quickly when the information filtered in."
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