Defence Headquarters says troops of Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) have discovered and destroyed 107 illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta region in the last two weeks.
The Director, Defence 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 had continued to sustain the war against oil theft, illegal refineries and other criminal activities in the Niger Delta through aggressive patrols, raids and clearance operations amongst other activities.
He said the operations were conducted at the creeks, waterways, high sea, towns and cities of Bayelsa, Delta, River State, Cross River and Akwa Ibom state respectively, which yielded significant results.
“Troops in the conduct of Operation Octopus Grip and Operation Dakatar Da Barawo discovered and destroyed 107 illegal refining sites, 140 storage tanks, 58 reservoirs, 151 ovens, 68 dugout pits and 22 wooden boats.
“Troops equally recovered 561,200 litres of crude oil, 119,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, one fibre boat, five pumping machines, two outboard engines, 10 new geepee tanks, one tricycle and six vehicles while a total of 9 suspected criminals were apprehended.
“All recovered items and apprehended suspects have been handed over the appropriate authority for further action,” he said.
Danmadami said the troops had on March 19, responded to election disruption within Ogbakiri community in Emouha Local Government Area of Rivers State and arrested 12 armed thugs.
He said the troops also recovered four AK47 rifles, one FN rifle, four AK47 magazines, one pistol loaded with two rounds of 9mm ammunition, one pump action gun, four cartridges, 16 rounds of 7.62mm special and one Hilux vehicle.
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