No fewer than five vandals have been confirmed dead in an explosion in Obitti community in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.

The Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Henry Okoye, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, said the explosion occurred on Tuesday, January 30.

Okoye said the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma, had already set up a team to unravel the immediate cause of the incident and arrest fleeing culprits.

He said: “Five vandals were burnt beyond recognition and we are currently investigating it in collaboration with our sister security agencies to unravel the identities of those behind the economic sabotage.

“They went for their normal pipeline vandalism when the incident occurred.

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“Our goal is to make sure that similar vandalism does not occur in the future.”

A source, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the vandals stormed the Obitti Rubber Estate in the area with an articulated vehicle and dug through to an oil pipeline that passed through the area.

“They dug a hole in the pipeline and connected their long pipe to their tanker to steal oil.

“I cannot say exactly what caused the explosion but I know and from what I saw, many people died, and many others, who narrowly escaped the explosion, sustained various degrees of injuries.

“The fire that raged for hours burnt the tanker and also affected our farm produce worth millions of naira,” the source told NAN.

It would be recalled that in April 2022, about 100 people lost their lives in a similar explosion that occurred at an illegal oil refining site in the Ohaji/Egbema area of Imo State.

On May 4, 2022, two persons also died when a bomb exploded at an oil facility – Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria Limited – located in Izombe, Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.

However, the incident was a suspected bomb attack on the oil facility.

The Star