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The Nigerian Navy has made a giant operational successes under
Operation DELTA SENTINEL as the intensification of its crackdown on crude oil theft and other illegal activities in the Niger Delta region, led to the arrest of 37 suspects.
However, in a separate operation, personnel of Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) PATHFINDER and Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) SOROH disrupted illegal oil refining activities and arrested the illegal miners in Rivers and Bayelsa States, respectively.
The spokesperson for the Navy, Captain Abiodun Folorunsho disclosed in Abuja that during an Anti-Crude Oil Theft (Anti-COT) patrol around the Ojekiri general area in Rivers State, the patrol team from NNS PATHFINDER discovered an illegal refinery site along the Alakiri River containing about 10 dugout pits cumulatively laden with approximately 45,000 litres of
stolen crude oil.
The site and the stored crude oil were subsequently destroyed in accordance with extant operational procedures, while the suspected perpetrators fled the scene upon sighting the naval personnel.
In a related development, a patrol team from NNS SOROH, acting on credible intelligence and in compliance with the Bayelsa State Government’s directive prohibiting black sand mining, arrested 37
suspected illegal miners at Anyama Jetty in Yenagoa.
The suspects were apprehended while attempting to transfer an unspecified quantity of black sand from a wooden boat into two trucks waiting at the jetty.
The arrested suspects, along with the trucks, the wooden boat, and the recovered mineral resources, were subsequently handed over to
Operation DOO-AKPO, the Bayelsa State security outfit, for further
investigation.
Capt Folorunsho further stated that these operational successes coincided with the directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, for naval formations and units to intensify operations against crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and other forms of economic sabotage across Nigeria’s maritime environment.
He added that the Nigerian Navy is committed to sustaining the momentum of Operation DELTA SENTINEL, leveraging intelligence and technology to drive operations to safeguard Nigeria’s critical national assets and economic interests in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
