Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase has directed Zonal Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIG), FCT’s and other state commands’ Commissi-oners of Police (CP) to arrest anybody found selling petroleum products in plastic containers.
The Police High Command explained that the order became imperative following untold suffering and hazard emanating from the activities of black marketers.
The IGP noted that the act has led to fire outbreaks, thereby rendering many people homeless.
He spoke through Force spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole, in a statement in Abuja yesterday.
The statement said: “Apart from the hardship this act is causing to fuel buyers, it has also rendered some innocent and law-abiding citizens homeless due to fire outbreak from jerry-can petrol storage.”
Arase, while warning fuel attendants at filling stations to desist from selling petrol inside jerry-can and plastic containers, added that the buyers and the sellers of the products, if caught, would be arrested and prosecuted.
He noted that fuel products such as petrol are highly flammable and if not stored and handled properly, “can seriously endanger people, property and the environment”.
The IGP, who assured Nigerians of Police readiness to fulfill their constitutional mandate, solicited for a cordial relationship between the Force and the citizens.
