Troops of Operation DELTA SAFE with the assistance of other security agencies in the Niger Delta region have discovered and destroyed no fewer than 107 illegal refining sites in Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, arresting a total of nine suspects.
Major General Musa Danmadami, Director of Defence Media Operations told newsmen in Abuja on Thursday that during raids and clearance operations in the affected states, troops destroyed 140 storage tanks, 58 reservoirs, 151 ovens, 68 dugout pits and 22 wooden boats.
“561,200 litres of crude oil, 119,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 1 fibre boat, 5 pumping machines, 2 outboard engines, 10 new geepee tanks, 1 tricycle and 6 vehicles” were also destroyed.
Danmadami also disclosed that during the period, a total of 42 Boko Haram/Islamic State of West Africa Province, ISWAP terrorists and their collaborators, bandits and other criminal elements, were neutralized, while 85 others were arrested.
In addition, he said, a total of 48 AK47 rifles and the cash sum of N4,247,740.000 were recovered from the criminal elements from different parts of the country, just as 130 abducted civilians and kidnapped victims were rescued.