JTF Reports Another Spill In Rivers; Takes Delivery Of Gunboats …As Navy Kills Six Pirates

A detachment of soldiers attached to the Joint Military Task Force code-named Operation Pulo Shield says it has spotted a massive crude oil leakage from the pipeline owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) along the KP-67 located around Pulokiri/Money Ground (between Adamakiri and Creek 6 in Rivers State.
The Media Coordinator of the Joint Task Force, Lt. Col Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement issued in Yenagoa, yesterday, said the JTF patrol team discovered the leakage close to a signpost marked KP-67 located around Pulokiri/Money Ground (between Adamakiri and Creek 6) general area, during a routine patrol.
According to him, “an assessment of the spot revealed that a brownish liquid substance was observed jetting out from an opening on the pipeline. The Commanding Officer, 146 Battalion, Lt Col Lander Saraso attributed the leakage to corrosion on the pipeline, and urged Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) authorities in charge of the Cawthorne Channel 2 to carry out a timely evaluation of the leaking point with a view to effecting immediate repairs on the line to prevent further spill.”
He, said the patrol team was doubting any sabotage, as the leakage may been caused by corrosion of the pipes.
However, “in Bayelsa State, troops of 343 Regiment and 5 Battalion of Sector 2 of the JTF deployed to patrol the waterways of Osiegbene Creek in Ekeremor, Brass and Southern Ijaw local government areas have stamped out 42 illegal oil distillery camps and scuttled 25 open wooden boats (Cotounu boats), used by oil thieves along Osiegbene, Yeregbene, Otui Lagosgbene and Oyeregbene communities in the aforementioned local government areas,” Nwachukwu also said.
According to him, “in a separate operation, troops of 3 and 19 Battalions covering the Sector 1 Area of responsibility of the Joint Task Force Operation Pulo Shield have clamped down 6 illegal refinery sites in Ajudaigbo, Agedegben and Madagbo, Escravos in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
“During the clamp down operation, the troops recovered and scuttled 15 open wooden boats, 33 large tanks, 127 plastic drums and 16 pumping machines used for their illicit trade; 44 dug out pits used by oil thieves to store stolen crude oil were also sealed up.
“Additionally, the troops intercepted and impounded a 33,000 litre capacity tanker truck loading adulterated petroleum product from an illegal loading point at Obejiughoton in Delta State.”
In Rivers State, he said, amphibious patrol troops of 146 Battalion of Sector 2 of the JTF Operation Pulo Shield deployed at Adamakiri scuttled an attempt by some unscrupulous persons to establish an illegal crude refining camp at Samkiri in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He said, “acting on intelligence report, the patrol team carried out a cordon and search operation at the community where it uncovered eleven plastic drums containing crude oil floating on the water at Samkiri Creek.
Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta yesterday said the delivery of two gunboats had boosted its fight against oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The Commander 2 Brigade of the Army and JTF Sector 2, Brig.-Gen. Osasogie Uzamere, said this when he received two gunboats donated by Orient Petroleum and Ibeto Cement in Port Harcourt.
Uzamere said that shortage of gunboats and fast-assault craft had slow down their renewed strategy to effectively patrol the creeks round the clock.
He said the delivery of the gunboats would speed up response of soldiers to reported crime scenes and thereby discourage oil thieves and vandals from sabotaging the nation’s economy.
Uzamere said it was the responsibility of every Nigerian, irrespectively of their class, to assist the JTF in the fight against oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The Managing Director of Orient Petroleum, Mr Nnaemeka Nwawka, said the donation of the gunboats became necessary due to reported challenges faced by the JTF in carrying out their mandate.
He pledged that the company would provide more equipment to JTF to further improve its fight against illegal oil bunkering activities in the region.
In a related development, the Commander, NNS Jubilee, Akwa Ibom, Commodore Isaac Ogbole, yesterday said the joint patrol teams of Nigerian Navy – NNS Jubilee and NNS Victory, Calabar, killed six pirates and injured one .

Chairman, Centenary Committee, Nigerian Ports Authority, Rivers, Dr Margret Osakwe, Rivers Port Manager, Mrs Carolyn Ufere and Traffic Manager, Rivers Port, Mrs Ngozi Ezeoke, at a news conference on Rivers Port Centenary Celebration in Port Harcourt , yesterday.