Defence Headquarters says troops of Operation Delta Safe have discovered and destroyed 74 illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta region in the last two weeks.
The Director, Defense Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, made this known at the bi-weekly news briefing on operations of the armed forces on Thursday in Abuja.
Danmadami said the troops in the conduct of Operation Octopus, also destroyed 341 storage tanks, 31 wooden boats, 260 ovens and 15 dugout pits.
According to him, troops also recovered 209,000 litres of crude oil, 145,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 4,500 litres of Premium Motor Spirit.
He added that 27 variety of weapons, 468 assorted ammunition, two speed boats, two outboard engine, eight vehicles and four motorcycles were recovered while a total of 71 criminals were apprehended.
He said the troops had continued to sustain the war against oil theft, illegal refineries and other criminal activities in the region through aggressive patrols, raids and clearance operations among other activities.
According to him, preparations were conducted at the creeks, waterways, high sea, towns and cities of Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, which yielded appreciable results.
“It is worth mentoring that N173.9 million were denied oil thieves,” he said.
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