*6 boats burnt, woman arrested
Emma Arubi
31 March 2013, WARRI – IN their bid to wipe out illegal refinining of petroleum products in the Niger Delta, the Officers and men of the 3 Battalion Army, Effurun barracks, near Warri, have destroyed over ten illegal refineries along the Opumami oil field axis in Warri South-West council area of Delta State.
The team personally led by the Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. Ikechukwu Out visited a cluster of about 11 abandoned Well Heads and called for a devise to permanently disable the abandoned Well Heads from its sources to make it unattractive to oil thieves, even as he said the army is putting stringent measures in place to effectively combat the menace of illegal bunkering in the region.
Six large mammy boats worth over #10m used for conveying locally refined products were also destroyed during the exercise that witnessed the burning of over 132 drums of refined crude worth millions of naira.
The five-hours raid was rounded up when a 32-years old lady, Eremoje Roli, her 2-years old son, Destiny and boat driver Master Precious Diden, 20, were caught with their stolen product transporting same to Ughoton village, near Warri.
Lt. I Out said further investigations would be conducted on the seized boat and the woman handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for prosecution, warning that people should desist from all illegal trade in crude oil product as the long arm of the law is certain to catch up with them.