Military destroys 36 illegal refining sites, nab 22 suspects in Niger Delta

Military personnel have destroyed 36 illegal refining sites and arrested 22 suspected oil thieves in the Niger Delta.

The Defence Headquarters spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, confirmed this on Thursday in Abuja while issuing an update on the operations of the armed forces at a bi-weekly news briefing.

Buba said that the troops of Operation Delta Safe carried out this successful raid in the last two weeks.

He stated that the troops also destroyed 61 dugout pits, 32 wooden boats, 87 storage tanks, three vehicles, 126 cooking ovens, three outboard engines, one speedboat, two motorcycles, one generator, and two pumping machines.

According to him, they also recovered 310,700 litres of crude oil, 14,675 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 49,000 litres of Dual Purpose kerosene, one weapon, and three ammunition.

“Troops on July 24, intercepted and destroyed one wooden boat loaded with 1000 litres of product suspected to be stolen crude oil at Wellhead Cluster Opukushi Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State,” Buba said.

“In the Southeast, troops of Operation UDO KA conducted raids on camps/hideouts of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)/Eastern Security Network (ESN) gunmen in Abia and Anambra States.”

The Defence Headquarters’ spokesman said that the troops also arrested suspected gunrunners, rescued kidnapped hostages and recovered arms and ammunition in the Onitsha North Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra.

“In the conduct of the operations, troops recovered one AK47 rifle loaded with 35 rounds of 7.62mm special, six pump action guns, one locally made pistol, one dane gun, one locally made hand grenade, four vehicles, nine motorcycles, 925 machetes and 151 machetes sharpeners.

“Others are 1,080 sickles, Nigerian Police uniforms and boots, IPOB/ESN uniform, one speaker, rain coats and boots and a chain saw. Troops also apprehended three gunrunners and rescued nine kidnapped hostages.”

Buba gave his words that overall, the troops will sustain the momentum in tackling the security challenges and he also assured that they will continue to fight the perpetrators until they surrender.

He said that he expects well-meaning Nigerians to continue to lend support to the military in their fight against hoodlums.

Buba also urged the public to stand with the military to flush out the perpetrators of these dastardly acts from among the society and believes that with unity and one accord, they can be flushed out.