03 December 2014, Warri —Operatives of the Sector 1, anti-illegal oil bunkering of the Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Pulo Shield, Bayelsa State, yesterday, said it had destroyed 23 illegal refinery camps and arrested 10 suspects for illegal oil bunkering activities.
Colonel Mustapha Anka, Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, said in a statement that the suspects will face the full wrath of the law.
Anka said the operation was conducted by men of 3 Battalion, Effurun Barracks, at Oteghele and Ejere areas of Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Anka said: ”Items discovered at the sites include 750 drums filled with substance suspected to be crude oil, 57 large metal tanks filled with stolen illegal refined Automated Gas Oil, AGO, and 48 cooking ovens.”
He listed other items recovered during the raid to include 48 dug-out pits filled with crude oil, 16 pumping machines, 35 surface tanks, four welding machines and several illegal oil bunkering hoses.
The JTF spokesman said the items were destroyed at the site during the operation.He said: ”Similarly, troops of Operation Thunderstorm in Orhionmwon area of Edo State, in conjunction with the Petroleum Pipeline Management Cooperation, PPMC, while on patrol at Obazagbo village in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo State, discovered several illegal crude oil refineries and arrested four suspects.
”The suspects were driving a Toyota car with number plate Delta SAP 589AA, loaded with substances suspected to be petroleum products in Ugbakea community, Edo State.”
– Vanguard