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FESTAC Town: Oil thieves, security operatives in gun duel

By Editor
18 November 2015   |   1:18 am
Commercial activities were yesterday partially disrupted at FESTAC Town, Lagos after an early morning gun battle between suspected oil thieves and security operatives sent shivers down the spine of residents. The oil bunkers were escaping from security personnel.
Oil Bunkering

Oil Bunkering

Commercial activities were yesterday partially disrupted at FESTAC Town, Lagos after an early morning gun battle between suspected oil thieves and security operatives sent shivers down the spine of residents. The oil bunkers were escaping from security personnel.

A resident, who gave his name as Mr Ayodele George, said the bunkers had laid sieged on the area at about 6a.m., shooting sporadically into the air for over an hour.

“At first, we thought they were armed robbers, as they were shooting endlessly into the air but later we discovered they were a group of oil bunkers who came heavily armed.’’ He added that police and soldiers promptly responded to the distress calls by residents.

Another witness who gave his name as Emeka said the armed men were a group of thieves heading to a creek in FESTAC Town but were being chased by the police. Soldiers had blocked roads leading to 4th Avenue junction and the police were said to be chasing the thieves.

Some police patrol vehicles were still parked at strategic places in the neighbourhood as commercial activities gradually returned to the town. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Joseph Offor, when contacted, confirmed the incident. According to him, it was not a robbery incident as reported earlier.

“There was no robbery in FESTAC Town this morning, what happened in the community was sporadic shooting by some hoodlums in the creek but the place is calm now. We arrested and paraded some of them last week and impounded a tanker with about 7,500 litres of petroleum products with a hose and pumping machine.

“They are not happy, and I guess that is the reason they woke up this morning to disturb the neighbourhood. In swift reaction, soldiers and policemen were immediately deployed to the scene, but there are no arrest so far,’’ Offor said.

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