Gombe command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps says no fewer than 30 persons have been arrested over alleged involvement in illegal marketing of petrol in the state.

The Commandant of NSCDC in the state, Waziri Baba-Goni, stated this in Gombe during a press conference on Friday.

Mr Baba-Goni said the activities of the suspects were hindering the efforts of the federal government to ensure availability of petrol at the stipulated price.

He said those arrested had been bailed, having signed undertakings, “and soon we will be charging them to court because we cannot sit down and allow these people to carry on like this.”

According to him, many of the filling stations that have not been operating before have now been opened and are selling petrol at higher prices and short-changing the people.

He said his command was taking proactive measures to ensure all forms of illegalities in marketing petrol and other related offences were nipped in the bud.

“We have informants and we carry out night surveillance which we will continue to do until sanity returns to the system,” he said.

Mr Baba-Goni said it was not true that NSCDC officials were escorting members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the state for money, vowing that his command would take legal action against IPMAN.

“There was a statement from IPMAN official that we collect money from them; this is a dent on NSCDC and we will not take that.

“It is either he brings the officer he gave money to or we will take him to court because we will not allow a single individual to dent the image of this command,” Mr Baba-Goni said.

(NAN)