Troops arrest 17 suspected oil thieves in Delta, 2 others

Troops of Operation Delta Safe have arrested 17 suspected oil thieves and dismantled several illegal refineries in the South-South in the last two weeks.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, disclosed this at the bi-weekly news briefing on the operations of the armed forces on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the troops conducted patrol, raids, and clearance operations in the creeks, villages, communities, and towns in Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers States.

The troops, according to him, destroyed several illegal refining sites with 17 wooden boats, 103 storage tanks, 94 ovens, and 58 dugout pits.

The troops also recovered 10 trucks, one generator, one tanker, two vehicles, and eight pumping machines.

Danmadami said: “Trooper arrested 17 pipeline vandals while a total of 7,805 barrels of crude oil and 2,613 barrels of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) were recovered.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt says oil thieves became $1bn richer in Q1, 2022

“In addition, a total of N134.6 million of AGO and N402.4 million were denied to the oil thieves.

“Accordingly, an approximate value of product denied oil thieves within the period under review was N537.09 million.”

The spokesman said the troops arrested four suspected armed robbers at Okpokumu community in Delta and Iduodah community in Rivers between September 9 and September 13.

“Items recovered from the suspects include two G3 rifles, one locally- made pump action gun, one locally -made pistol, three G3 magazine, three AK47 magazines, 280 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 780 rounds of 7.62mm special, MMG metal links, two baofeng radios.

“Others items are five pairs of military camouflages, six pairs of desert boots, some Nigerian currency notes and large quantities of items suspected to be hard drugs.

“The suspects and items recovered have been handed over to the relevant authority for further action,” he added.

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