Men of the State Security Services (SSS) in Kwara State have paraded four suspected oil pipeline vandals.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on the activities of the vandals, the state Director of the SSS, Mr Williams Onogba, said the suspects were intercepted in the course of disrupting the flow of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from Oyo State to Kwara, the main route that the petroleum product gets to the state.

"Specifically on 15 January, at about 5.15 a.m. at Ogbomoso, along the pipeline traversing Oyo and Kwara states, the suspects went for their usual activities, which was to break into the pipeline, siphon fuel and then go to sell," he said.

The director gave the names of the alleged pipeline vandals as Lamidi Mogaji, Saheed Mogaji, Lanre Afunja and Sodiq Nuhu.

He said two of the suspects were drivers, while the other two were owners of two 15000-litre PMS trucks each, saying, "unfortunately, there was an incident and one of them got burnt and the fire affected the drivers.

"It was only through intelligence that we knew that the victim was burnt as a result of his illegal activity in that area. Anyone can be a fire victim. When an explosion occurs, it does not define any person. Anyone can become a victim. In fact, occasionally, these vandals become victims," he said.

The SSS boss disclosed that pipeline vandalism affected a chain of activities with the potential of disrupting the production and distribution chain, adding that pipeline vandalism had, for long, been a major crime that affects not just the individual, but the economy, the employees and the system.