By Linus Aleke
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Thursday, said, troops of operations Delta State in the conduct of Operation Octopus Grip discovered and destroyed 57 illegal refining sites, in three weeks.
The military high command, also disclosed, that 21 oil thieves and pipeline vandals were apprehended, within the period.
The Director, of Defence Media Operations, Major General Musa Danmadami, said this, while briefing Defence correspondents in Abuja on Thursday.
General Danmadami said: “The land, maritime and air components of operation Delta Safe have sustained
offensive posture to deny criminals space to carry out their illegal operations in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State respectively. During the operations, several illegal refining sites, equipment
and petroleum products were recovered and destroyed while some suspected oil thieves and pipeline vandals were also apprehended”.
He further disclosed, that 953 cooking ovens, 68 wooden boats, 172 storage tanks and 149 dugout pits, were part of the equipment, uncovered and destroyed within the period under review.
The troops, he said, also recovered, 445,000 litres of crude oil, 1,043,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 22,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, and 2,000 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosine.
Equally recovered, General Danmadami said, were 1 AK47 rifle, 8 tankers, 63 vehicles, 2-speed boat, 1 thug boat, 14 motorcycles, 1 tricycle, 3 bicycles, 11 pumping machines and 3 outboard engines.
The Director, of Defence Media Operations, said, within the weeks in focus, oil thieves were denied a total of seven hundred and thirteen million, six hundred and ninety-nine thousand six hundred Naira (N713,699,600.00) only in the South-South region.
He added, “the large quantity of illegal crude oil and other petroleum product recovered and destroyed and the number of arrested oil thieves and pipeline vandals, shows the unrelenting efforts by the troops of Operation Delta Safe in denying them freedom of action”.
Still in the south, General Danmadami disclosed that the troops came in contact with suspected criminals while on fighting patrols at a suspected criminal hideout at Iyonu forest in Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
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He noted that during the encounter, troops killed one of their kingpins who was on the wanted list of security agents as well as arrested one suspect while others fled.
In a related development, troops of joint border patrol in South West sustained the onslaught against smugglers of contraband goods.
“Accordingly, operational activities were conducted in the jetties, villages, bush paths, town and Local Government Areas in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States respectively. During the operation troops in conjunction with other security agents intercepted some contraband goods and arrested suspected criminal elements
within the zone. Cumulatively, between 1 to 22 December 2022, troops of Operation Awatse in the conduct of Operation Swift Response recovered 1,680 50kg bags of foreign rice, 997 jerrycans of 30 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, 1 truck, 2 golf cars, bales of use clothing among other items,” he said.
Noting that troops also arrested 2 criminals elements, Gen. Danmadami concluded that all recovered items
have been handed over to the Nigerian Customs Services while the arrested criminals were handed over to the relevant authority for further action.
