Operatives of the Joint Military Task Force code named Operation Pulo Shield launching of a multiple security actions in Niger Delta communities paid off with the discovery of a huge volume of stolen crude oil in a shrine at Ogbokodo community in Warri South Local Government area of Delta state,arresting 15 persons.
The armed soldier, under the command of the 3rd Battalion anti-oil-theft patrol team of Sector 1 of the JTF led by the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ifeayin Otu, discovered in the Shrine an illegal fuel dump with over 230 drums of illegally distilled Automated Gas Oil.
According to the Media Coordinator of the JTF,Lt.Col. Onyenma Nwachukwu, the discovery at the community shrine has led to the arrest of two suspects and the scuttling of thirteen illegal oil distillery camps,”the oil thieves had concealed 34 dug out pits, 37 steel surface reservoirs, 360 drums and 44 open boats filled with stolen crude oil, along Benneth Island, Gbekebor, Iffie communities and Ogbokodo creek in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta state.
Anti-oil theft patrol teams of 146 and 5 Battalions of the Joint Task Force (JTF) have arrested 3 self-propelled barges and a Tug boat, during a recent patrol of the creeks and water ways in the Niger Delta. Two of the barges MV LAMME and MT FUFUSWAY were laden respectively with 100,000 litres and 500,000 litres of illegally distilled Automated Gas oil (AGO) sourced from stolen crude oil,” he said.
According to Nwachukwu “The barges which had eleven crew members on board were intercepted around Bonny Anchorage in Rivers state and are now in safe custody of Sub Sector 5, while the crew members on board both barges have been conveyed to Headquarters Sector 2 in Port Harcourt for further investigation.”
“A third barge christened DFC 2 was arrested along Azagbene River in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa state without its crew members. The patrol teams also impounded 2 open boats caught while attempting to siphon crude oil near the SPDC burnt pipeline site at Bodo West,” he said.
.“In Bayelsa state, troops of 343 Regiment of Sector 2 and Forward Operational Base (FOB FORMOSSO) of the JTF deployed in Southern Ijaw and Brass have clamped down 22 illegal crude oil distillery sites and scuttled 3 open wooden boats and 500 drums used as implements by oil thieves along Masonkiri, Lagosgbene, Oyeregbene, Igbematoru, Ekiambiri and Polubobou communities in Southern Ijaw and Brass Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State,” he added.
Meanwhile,the Commander JTF ,Major General Bata Debiro has called on all Community leaders and youth in the Niger Delta to synergise with the JTF to bring the oil theft menace in the region to complete cessation.
Major General Debiro,who made the call during an anti-oil theft advocacy and security assessment tour to Bonny Island, noted that illegal oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism and illegal refineries are all heinous crimes that not only threaten the economic security of Nigeria, but also degrade the environment and aquatic life of the good people of the Niger Delta and therefore require a conglomeration of efforts to totally eradicate.
He urged the youth of the Niger Delta to join hands with the JTF to kick out the menace of oil theft by giving the necessary support and cooperation to JTF operational bases in and around their communities, rather than stand aloof and watch criminals unleash destruction on their environment and take away their aquatic life, adding, that this will inevitably protect their future.