The Nigeria Navy recorded a breakthrough in its undercover operations when it uncovered a major illegal oil bunkering site at an abandoned warehouse in Ogbogoro area of Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers State a suburb of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital.
The Commandant of the Nigeria Navy Ship NNS Pathfinder in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital, Commodore Sanusi Ibrahim who led journalists to the illegal site on Thursday said five persons including an engine repairer were arrested at the scene.Commodore Sanusi Ibrahim represented by the Base Operation Officer, Lieutenant Commodore Sunday Katuka Haruna said over five hundred drums loaded with illegally refined petroleum products were seen at the site.
He said” NNS Pathfinder operations is geared towards achieving the mandate of the Chief of Naval Staff strategic guidance and zero tolerance for Crude oil theft and other activities within the Niger Delta this raid will continue until we reduce it to the barest minimum.”
He said the the illegal containers had been arranged in each compartment and each compartment contained 100 drums, and we have over 20 compartments and each of theses drums contains about 350 litres of illegally refined AGO(diesel).” The seizure is the equivalent of 22 tankers of 33,000 litres.
The Commander of NNS Pathfinder Commodore Sanusi Ibrahim called on the public to continue to provide the Navy and other security agencies with timely information to enable it rid the country of oil thieves and pipeline vandals.
Over two hundred polythene bags and a wooden Contonou boats load with illegally refined oil were also discovered at the Ogbogoro illegal oil site.They were all impounded by the Navy.
