Troops of the Nigerian Army, 6 Division Port Harcourt, have on Wednesday uncovered five illegal crude oil reservoirs ladened with 225,000 liters of crude oil in Odagwa community, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, arresting five suspects.
The soldiers also uncovered a compromised crude oil wellhead where several hidden illegal refining sites siphon products from.
Addressing journalists shortly after the operation, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6 Division, Nigerian, Port Harcourt, Major General Jamal Abdusallam, disclosed that the troops achieved the feat by combining technology with human intelligence.
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Major General Abdussalam, who was represented the Commanding Officer, 29 Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ishaya Manga, clarified that drones were deployed to scan the aerial view of the forest for criminal activities, soldiers were also deployed to collaborate with the locals in pinpointing hidden bunkering sites hidden under the canopy of the thick forest.
The GOC, assured that the command under his watch would not rest until all illegal oil bunkering activities are brought to a standstill.
He said, “In continuation of our operation to rid 6 Division area of illegal oil bunkering and other forms of criminality which began in February organised by the division.
“It is against this backdrop that the troops of 6 Division were directed to identify, locate and destroy all illegal refineries within the 6 Division area of responsibility.
“We use two approaches to our discoveries, one of the approaches is drones, but it is not everything that the drone can sight, so we deployed our second approach which is human intelligence and that is what we’ve been using so far and it has been yielding tremendous results.”
Abdussalam while emphasising that illegal bunkering activities were negatively impacting the social economic activities of the country, noted that that each of the reservioirs contained about 45,000 liters of the product.
He added that apart from the huge amount of stolen crude discovered, several cooking pots used by the criminals to distill the crude oil were destroyed by the troops.
“This is economic sabotage against the federal government, impacting negatively on the social economic activities, as well as the health of the citizens and that is why we are here. We would continue to do our best to ensure that all illegal refineries in this area are destroyed.
“Apart from these reservoirs, there are other cooking pots at various locations not far from here which would be completely destroyed.
“In this general area of Odagwa, our troops have discovered about five reservoirs filled with about 45,000 liters of illegal crude oil and there are other empty reservoirs discovered by the troops, the operation is ongoing and we will continue to make further discoveries. As soon as the discoveries are made, the public would be informed.”
The GOC thanked members of the public who provided useful information to the army in their fight against illegal oil bunkering in the state.
He also sent a stern warning to perpetrators of illegal oil bunkering to steer clear of public facilities, adding that anyone caught would be made to face the full weight of the law.
“I wish to also thank the general public, especially the law abiding people who have consistently cooperated with us through intelligence sharing and gathering for successful conduct of operations.
“When you look at the vegetation here, you will observe that it is deeply forested and hardly could you even imagine that something of this nature is taking place here, but with the intervention of the local population, we are able to get to those locations.
“I also want to send a message to those oil bunkerers to desist from these forms of criminality because it is against the law, this is sabotage against the federal government, Rivers State government and the community where this heinous crime is being carried out.
“So far we have arrested five suspects and those arrested would be taken to the division where they would be referred to the relevant authorities for prosecution,” he added.
