JTF Destroys 13 Illegal Refineries In N’Delta

The Joint Military Task
Force in the Niger Delta said it has destroyed 13 illegal refineries in its operations in Bayelsa, Delta and Edo States of the region.
A statement by the military task force Friday said the operation in Bayelsa was carried out in collaboration with the task force on illegal oil bunkering in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.
The statement by the JTF spokesperson Lt. Col Mustapha Anka disclosed that the task force discovered the illegal distillation camps during their routine patrol of the waterways of Igbemotoru, Bayelsa.
It said items discovered at the illegal camps were illegal storage dumps, pumping machines and large boats filled with stolen crude and automated gas oil or diesel.
Other equipment discovered, according to the statement included plastic tanks and hoses for siphoning stolen crude oil from oil wells.
It said, the sites, the discovered products and equipment were destroyed in line with the task force mandate in the region.
Further, it said the outfit on patrol in Edo State also discovered six illegal oil refining camps at Okpogbene and Satama general area in Warri South West Local Government Area in Delta State.
It explained that the illegal bunkerers operated with four Cotonou boats, 16 cooking ovens and 35 drums filled with substances suspected to be stolen crude oil.
The troops patrolling community waterways in Warri-South Local Governemnt Area also intercepted two Contonuo boats containing illegally acquired AGO. Two speed boats and two pumping machines used by oil thieves were recovered and set ablaze.”
It also said eight plastic tanks containing illegally acquired crude oil together with metal drums used for storing stolen oil were discovered at an illegal distillation camp at Okapi in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State.
The statement noted that the constant and mobile nature of the special squad of the task force was in line with the commander, JTF, Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Atewe’s zero tolerance campaign against oil theft and illegal oil bunkering in the region.