The Nigerian Navy has arrested 37 suspected illegal miners and dismantled an illegal crude oil refining site during separate operations targeting oil theft and economic sabotage in the Niger Delta region.
The operations were conducted by personnel of NNS Pathfinder and NNS Soroh in Rivers State and Bayelsa Stateunder Operation Delta Sentinel, according to the Director of Naval Information, Abiodun Folorunsho.
Folorunsho said naval personnel from NNS Pathfinder discovered an illegal refinery during a patrol along the Alakiri River in the Ojekiri general area of Rivers State while carrying out an anti-crude oil theft operation.
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The facility contained about 10 dugout pits filled with approximately 45,000 litres of stolen crude oil.
The site and the stored crude were subsequently destroyed in line with operational procedures, while the suspected operators fled on sighting the naval team.
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In a separate operation in Bayelsa, personnel of NNS Soroh arrested 37 individuals suspected of illegal black sand mining at Anyama Jetty in Yenagoa after acting on credible intelligence.
The suspects were apprehended while attempting to transfer the mineral resource from a wooden boat into two trucks waiting at the jetty, in violation of the state government’s ban on black sand mining.
Folorunsho said the suspects and the recovered items were handed over to Operation Doo-Akpo, the Bayelsa State security outfit, for further investigation.
He added that the operations align with the directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Idi Abbas, for naval formations to intensify efforts against crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and other economic crimes within Nigeria’s maritime domain.
The Navy also reaffirmed its determination to sustain the ongoing operations through intelligence-led strategies and collaboration with relevant stakeholders to safeguard the nation’s economic assets.
