The Nigerian navy has recovered a huge illegal bunkering site in Mgbu-Odohia community, Rumuolumeni, Rivers state.
Commander of the NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Williams Kayoda said he is determined to unravel the sponsors of the illegal business as a way of eradicating the trend in the region.
TVC News Edmond Awadje has the reports that it was a massive discovery by men of the navy when this makeshift
warehouse filled with several drums containing illegally refined crude and strategically hidden was uncovered.
Three tankers fully loaded with the product were also seized as this hose and pumping machine shows how the
products are being loaded and transported out of this community.
Also seized are buses used in conveying the drums of oil. Commander of the NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Williams Kayoda led journalists to a jetty behind this makeshift shops obviously sited as cover up for the illegal business
thriving there. On ground the jetty were some wooden boats and others still under construction for ferrying crude outside this region.
While conducting journalists further into the bush, the navy also came across some youths engaged in the business and on sighting the naval personnel, they scampered for safety into the forest.
Some others also escaped in their canoe when they sighted men of the navy approaching.
Luck however ran out on this young man who was apprehended by the officers before escaping.
The navy assured that under its operation, codenamed “Operation white Valentine” it would not only go after perpetrators of illegal bunkering but also spread its dragnet to their sponsors.
Commodore Kayoda while parading other suspects arrested in the area said the Department for Petroleum Resources would take delivery of the seized products.
With the massive feat achieved by the navy, it is believed that continuous efforts like this would further assist in stemming down the tide of illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta region and save the country of further economic loss.
