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Illegal Pipelines Connected to Churches, Mosques -NNPC reveals

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The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited, Melee Kyari, on Tuesday, alleged that there are some illegal petroleum products pipelines connected to Churches and Mosques in the country.

Kyari, in a statement said the discovery led to the deliberate shutting down of pipelines in the country.

The NNPC boss, while lamenting the level of losses on the nation’s pipelines, said the illicit business of pipeline vandals cuts across different regions and religious organisations where the pipelines pass through.

He further reiterated that some of the pipelines are illegally connected around Churches and Mosques.

The MD revealed that the issue of crude oil theft is real and happening and the company has tried tackling it.

According to Kyari, 295 illegal connections were discovered in one line, in less than 200 meters, with the help of the security agencies upon the directive of the Chief of Defence Staff.

“So far, 30 Speed Boats, 179 Wooden Boats, and 37 trucks have been seized, but the authorities have taken the decision not to arrest any longer but to burn such confiscated products.

He stressed that 122 persons including highly placed individuals were arrested between April and August, adding that some of them have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

NNPC also stated that 739 ovens for the illegal crude oil theft have been discovered and some destroyed, 344 reservoirs created and 355 cooking pots also discovered, stressing that the level of the illegal business was enormous.

“It simply means the destruction of the environment. We have lost revenue,” he said.

The MD narrated this while speaking at the ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the State House.

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