Troops destroy 41 illegal refining sites, recover 1.06m litres of crude oil

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says troops of operation Delta Safe have destroyed 41 illegal refining sites in the last two weeks.  

During a briefing on Thursday, Musa Danmadami, director of the defence media operations, said the troops recovered over 1.06 million litres of crude oil.

He said 156 cooking ovens, 189 storage tanks, 12 dugout pits and 15 wooden boats were destroyed during the operations.

Danmadami said 18 suspects were apprehended while six vehicles, 13,500 litres of automotive gas oil, and 8,500 litres of premium motor spirit were seized.

He said the operations were conducted in creeks, waterways, high seas, towns and cities of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states.

He added that during a patrol to Sansan and Monikiri camp, Bonny LGA of Rivers, the troops encountered pirates who fled on sighting them.

“Troops destroyed their camp and recovered six speed boats with one 90HP engine and five 40HP engines as well as seven generators, five pumping machines and seven radios,” he said.

“Also, the air component of Operation Delta Safe carried out a series of air interdiction and armed reconnaissance mission within the theatre of operation that recorded some remarkable results.

“Notably, between April 21 and April 27, several air interdictions were conducted at Ogbogbo community in Ahoada West local government area and Abisse waterways in Akuku-Toru local government area of Rivers.

“Some identified illegal refining sites, illegal tanks and reservoirs loaded with suspected refined products were seen and bombarded accordingly.

“The air strike was observed to have set off explosions that burnt down the storages and reservoirs.”