- The Air Component of Operation Delta Safe has destroyed over 30 illegal oil refining sites in Rivers State within the last two months
- Air strikes targeted Cawthorne Channel and Bille, aiming to deter oil theft and protect the environment
In the last two months, the Air Component of Operation Delta Safe has destroyed more than 30 illegal oil refining sites in the strikes around Cawthorne Channel and Bille in Rivers’ Degema Local Government Area.
Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, the NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, announced this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
The air strikes, according to Gabkwet, increased efforts to deny oil thieves and operators of illegal oil refining sites the opportunity to burst pipelines and operate their illegal oil refineries sites while harming the environment.
He stated that the Friday air strikes at Cawthorne Channel destroyed four active illegal refining sites with dug-out reservoirs and surface storage tanks suspected of containing illegal refined products.
According to him, similar air strikes were carried out at Bille on Saturday and early Sunday, destroying three illegal oil refining sites as well as storage tanks and reservoirs.
In one of the sites, a Cotonou boat suspected to be siphoning crude oil from a flow station was engaged in several passes and destroyed.
In the last two months, Cawthorne Channel and Bille have accounted for the majority of oil theft and illegal oil refining activities in Rivers State.
Within this period, over 30 illegal oil refining sites in these two locations have been destroyed by the Land, Maritime, and Air Components of Operation Delta Safe.
These efforts will be sustained in these locations and others until oil thieves and their accomplices desist from their illegal activities, the statement added.