The Nigerian Navy says it destroyed four illegal refineries, including a wood-laden boat conveying about 2000 litres of crude oil allegedly in Awoye community.
The naval authorities, Forward Operating Base (FOB), in the Igbokoda Area of the state, said the operation was in continuation of its fight against crude oil theft, oil bunkering and kidnapping in the coastal region in the state, Wasuku Alushi, commanding officer of FOB Igbokoda, told reporters on Wednesday.
“Here at the illegal refineries, they have numerous equipment. They have boats which they use in conveying the crude oil and as you can see, the crude oil is still very fresh. It can contain about 2,000 litres as we deactivate them all.
“It is a whole network of criminal enterprise. As you can see, there are stolen crude. This engineering method was carefully carried out by these criminal elements,” Mr Aluchi stated.
According to him, the strategy by the naval operatives in clamping down on the oil theft was threefold.
“The first is to arrest the criminal elements at the point of stealing the crude. If we cannot get them there, then we can get their illegal refinery sites. Good enough, we caught them at the point of refining.
“We have deactivated those illegal refineries. The next step is to crush the relics, which would discourage them even when they have the thought of reactivating those refineries. We would follow up with information and destroy them all,” the naval officer explained.
He added, “Also, Our traditional rulers have been forthcoming. They have been trying in the area of giving us intelligence. We would like them to help us in the area of community agreement. They must continually sensitize their wards on the menace of crude oil theft, not to the economy alone but the effects to the environment.”
Mr Aluchi indicated that the suspects would soon be prosecuted.
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