The floating corpse of a suspected oil thief has been recovered on the creeks of Qua Iboe River in Eket local government area of Akwa Ibomstate.

It was gathered that marine police operatives, following a tip-off by natives of Ikot Ebidang in Onna local government area, raided some coastal areas almost a week ago following which many of the suspects dived into the river to escape arrest.

Addressing journalists in Uyo, the state capital at the weekend, Dr. Ufot Phenson, a community leader and stakeholder, said one the vandals who dived into the river drowned.

“The corpse was recovered after three days on the Creek of Qua Iboe River, in the adjoining oil community of Eket LGA,” he said.

Phenson said one of criminals was arrested with items such as flying boat, life jacket, oxygen cylinder, iron cutter, hacksaw, generator, motorcycle and helmet, with which they used in destroying the pipelines.

“The Marine Police operatives stationed at the Marina Beach, Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state have apprehended one Mbet-obong Robson, a member of a gang of oil pipeline vandals and recovered items such as Flying boat, hacksaw, generator, motorcycle, life jacket, oxygen cylinder, iron cutter and others.

“These items were used in breaking the the pipelines, which almost ignited fire with thick smoke released into the atmosphere. During the process of raiding by the Police, other members of the gang escaped into the thick swamp, while others jumped into the Qua Iboe River and escaped.

“The matter was, thereafter, reported at the Divisional Police station at Abat, headquarters of Onna. Our concerns and fears are that, if the matter of this magnitude is not properly dealt with by the law enforcement agents, their sponsors, who claimed to be the who is who, claiming ownership of the community could bribe the Police to release the principal suspect to continue in the trade, which is economic sabotage to the nation.

“If not for the timely intervention of the Marine Police, a vast area of about 6.5 kilometres would have been gutted by fire with attendant loss of lives, properties and oil installations.

“The gas pipelines are owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria and were laid across the area by Seven Exploration and Production Company in 2012 to supply gas to the Ibom Power plant at Ikot Abasi LGA.”

He charged the regular police to follow through the feat achieved by their Marine counterpart in diligent prosecution of the suspect “to serve as detergent to others, even as he indulged the youths’ vigilantes to be in the vanguard of securing oil pipelines in the coastal communities.(The Nation)