The Joint Military Task Force (JTF) on Petroleum Products yesterday set fire to a tanker loaded with 33,000 litres of diesel believed to be adulterated at Ibangwa in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The heavy duty truck with Adamawa registration number was intercepted by men of the task force at Ukanafun axis of the state while conveying the products to the Northern part of the country and government gave orders that it be destroyed.
An official of the state command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) ?said that the product which was bunkered by criminals was also adulterated.
The driver of the truck, Abdkadri Amza, who spoke through an interpreter, said he loaded petroleum product at Unwoji in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on the directives of a dealer whose name he refused to disclose to newsmen.
Abdkadri said that he was conveying the product to Adamawa State and said it was not his first time.
Addressing newsmen, the commander, 6th Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Ibagwa, Lt.-Col. M. B. Abdullahi, who supervised the exercise, said the truck and its contents were destroyed on the orders of the authorities and that the driver had been handed over to the NSCDC for prosecution.
He said another truck containing such product would soon be destroyed when JTF gets approval.