Civil Defence arrests five for ‘refurbishing expired gas cylinders’

The Kaduna zonal office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Tuesday seized expired and burnt 12.5kg gas cylinders that were being refurbished to be sold to the public as new.

It ordered the arrest of the owner of the welding shop where the cylinders were being retooled and his four workers by operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The fifth worker was not arrested because he is a minor.

The seizures and arrests followed a raid by the DPR and Civil Defence on the welding shop on Kabala Road, Tudun Wada, Kaduna.

The raid occurred three weeks after a gas retail outlet at Sabo Tasha in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State was blown off by a gas explosion, killing six persons, including a Professor of Nuclear Physics, Simon Mallam.

The Head, DPR Zonal Office, Kaduna, Malam Isa Tafida, said the cylinders were seized because they were burnt, expired, scrapped and unfit for use, adding that any attempt to retool them for reuse would be dangerous for everyone and everything around, “as they are a time bomb waiting to explode.”

He said: “The massive sensitisation programme we have embarked on is working. We received a tip-off from a member of the community that this welder buys expired, scrapped gas cylinders to refurbish, paint and sell to the public as new. These cylinders are decommissioned with a hole in the bottom, but they put a bolt in the hole and weld it like that.

“The cylinders don’t have strength to hold gas, they cannot withstand gas pressure. At the slightest pressure they will explode like a bomb. The guy just goes out, looks for pieces of cylinder scrap, welds them together, paints them and sells them as new at exorbitant prices to unsuspecting people, who don’t know that they are buying a time bomb.

“People buying gas cylinders should buy at DPR licensed retail outlets. They should look for SON stamp and expiry date. We came with law enforcement agents to arrest those involved for investigation.”

The owner of the welding shop, Mr. Taiye Usman, said a client brought the 20 cylinders to him for repair on Monday and was to come to pick them on Tuesday (yesterday).

“Someone brought the 20 cylinders for repair. I don’t know where he got them. I don’t know what he wanted to do with them.

“I charged him N1,100 for each one, which is N22,000 for the 20. He brought them on Monday to collect them on Tuesday. I don’t know his address, but I have his phone number and I can call him to come and collect them and he will come,” Usman said.

The suspects have been handed over to the NSCDC for investigation.