The air component of Operation Delta Safe has, in the last two months, destroyed more than 30 illegal oil refining sites around Cawthorne Channel and Bille in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers.
NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Gabkwet said the air strikes ramped up efforts to deny oil thieves and operators of illegal oil refining sites the opportunity to burst pipelines and operate their illegal oil refineries while damaging the environment.
He said the air strikes conducted at Cawthorne Channel on Friday destroyed four active illegal refining sites with dug-out reservoirs and surface storage tanks suspected to contain illegally refined products.
According to him, similar air strikes were also conducted at Bille on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday, which destroyed three illegal oil refining sites with storage tanks and reservoirs.
“In one of the sites, a Cotonou boat suspected of syphoning 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.
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