Nearly four months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared an end to the subsidy regime, which is meant to crush corruption and organized crime in the nation’s oil and gas sector, smuggling of petrol is currently on the rise.
Smugglers of petrol have intensified their methods, sailing deep into the sea to ferry stolen products to neighbouring countries.
The smugglers have also mapped out effective and efficient routes in bushes and creeks to cross the land borders, carrying petrol in several small plastic bottles and large cellophane bags into Benin Republic.
Presently, the business has become an all comers affairs as Beninese have also joined the bandwagon of petrol thieves around Badagry, Owode Akpa and Idiroko areas in Lagos and Ogun states.
Badagry roundabout is usually monster point for smugglers of petrol who wait around this area for commercial vehicles that would convey their products to Seme.
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Hardly would a cab drive through the long stretch of road from Badagry to Seme without carrying petrol in small plastics bottles and cellophane bags.
Security operatives at the border post are not left out as they are now complicit in the fuel smuggling ring.
At night, security operatives use their vehicles to move the items hidden in different parts of their vehicles to villages along the border corridors.
Those on check points collect between N100 and N200 to allow them go freely, making it attractive for all manner of security to man illegal check points along the corridor.
