Navy bursts illegal oil refining site in Delta
…says Operation Delta Sanity has zero tolerance for economic sabotage
An illegal oil refining site in Obotebe community, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State was at the weekend discovered, dismantled and set ablaze by officers and men of the Operation Delta Sanity, of the Nigerian Navy.
The illegal refining camp, is one of many operated by oil thieves in the area.
Commodore Abdulazeez Zubairu of the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Delta who disclosed this said the Nigerian Navy is committed to maintaining zero tolerance for oil theft, illegal refining, and all forms of economic sabotage.
According to him, the operation was carried out by 14 naval personnel who were tactically deployed aboard two gunboats and one speedboat under the command’s directive.
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He said the successful raid was in line with Operation Delta Sanity II, a strategic anti-crude oil theft mission initiated by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla.
He said, “Acting on credible intelligence, the operatives advanced to coordinates 5.381734⁰N and 5.587105⁰E deep within the mangrove creeks of Obotebe community, Burutu Local Government Area where they discovered a large-scale crude oil processing dump site.
“The era of unchecked crude oil theft is over. We are dismantling these criminal networks one site at a time.
“Items recovered from the site included one 1.5 horsepower Yamaha engine, one generator, six pumping machines, two rolls of industrial hoses.
“Photographs and videos of the destroyed site have been captured for documentation and further surveillance is ongoing to apprehend those behind the illegal activities.
“With this development, the Nigerian Navy continues to tighten its grip on criminal elements sabotaging Nigeria’s oil infrastructure in the region,” Zubairu said.
To ensure collaborative efforts in checking criminality, the naval officer urged host communities to support the Navy’s operations by rejecting oil theft and providing timely intelligence to security agencies, as part of the renewed offensive against crude oil theft and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta.
