The suspects, who claimed to be officers of NSCDC on national assignment from Abuja, were alleged to be going round petrol stations in Ilorin, the state capital, collecting money.
The spokesman for the NSCDC in Kwara State Command, Babawale Afolabi, in a statement made available to newsmen in Ilorin, on Wednesday, said that the Command had commenced investigations on the matter to further confirm whether the suspects were running a syndicate with other members who were also operating throughout the 16 Local Government Areas of the state.
“On the 8th of March, 2022, at about 1422 hours, our anti-vandal unit led by ACC Yusuf Olatunji got an intelligence report that some group of men, who put on uniforms of Civil Defence, have been going around filling stations in Ilorin metropolis claiming to be members of national task force on assignment from Abuja. After meeting the managers of the petrol stations, they would collect money from them, as the petrol sellers believed that they were officers of the NSCDC,” Afolabi said.
Afolabi gave the names of the suspects to include; Saheed Adedayo (37), Muritala oloruntoyin (40), Emmanuel Ferife (45), Abiodun Oluseun, (44) and Isaac Aluko (43.)
“They all claimed to be members of the Importers Association of Nigeria and have been going around extorting money from unsuspecting petrol sellers in the state capital.
“However, they ran out of luck as they got to a filling station at the Amilegbe area of Ilorin, as the office of the anti-vandal unit was contacted by the management of the petrol station. The unit patrol team later swung into action and the five suspects were arrested,” he said.
During interrogation, the suspects admitted to be doing illegal duties, even though maintained to be members of the Importers Association of Nigeria and were going about filling stations to gather intelligence reports.
Afolabi said that the Commandant of the NSCDC in the state, Makinde Ayinla, appealed to petrol stations and the people of the state at large to be wary of the unscrupulous elements who would like to use this period of fuel scarcity to perpetrate their criminal activities, advising them to carry out all the necessary due diligence before dealing with any group or individuals claiming to be security operatives.
