Navy destroys illegal refinery in Ondo

The Forward Operating Base of the Nigerian Navy Igbokoda, Ondo State has destroyed an illegal refinery in Awoye community, in Ilaje Local Government Area of the state.

The military said the development was part of its determination to checkmate criminal activities such as kidnapping, crude oil theft and illegal bunkering within the costal region of the state.

The Commander, Forward Operating Base, Igbokoda, Navy Captain Wasuku Alushi, disclosed this while speaking with journalists on Wednesday.

He said, “You would recall that two weeks ago, Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base in Igbokoda under the directive of the Nigeria Flag Officer Commanding, launched special operation here and the essence is for us to extend our tentacles to be able to checkmate some of the criminal activities in the riverine environment especially kidnapping, crude Oil theft and illegal bunkering.

“In the course of that operation, we got aerial intelligence of this illegal refineries sites, since then we had been planning judiciously. The terrain was a very difficult one, it is a whole network of criminal enterprise, as you can see, there are stolen crude, this engineering method was carefully carried out by these criminal elements.

“What we are doing is in furtherance to the dictate of the chief of Naval staff, which is to stamp out illegal oil bunkering and crude oil theft as well as other criminal acts from the riverine communities.

“The strategy was in three folds. The first is to arrest the criminal elements at the point of stealing the crude, if we cannot get them there then we can get their illegal refineries sites, good enough, we caught them at the point of refining.

“We have deactivated those illegal refineries, the next step is to crush the relics, which would discourage them even when they have the thought of reactivating those refineries, we would follow up with information and destroy them all.”

He also commended the traditional rulers in the areas for giving intelligence information to the FOB, urging them to help the military in the area of community agreement, saying “they must continually sensitize their wards on the menace of crude oil theft, not to the economy alone but the effects to the environment.

“Beyond that, as soon as they (criminals) are arrested, they would be made to face the full wrath of the law and as a security agency, Nigeria Navy would not relent in its efforts, we would go full length out to ensure that we stamp out completely these criminal enterprise especially in their Ondo area of operations.

“Here at the illegal refineries, they have numerous equipment, they have boats which they use in conveying the crude oil and the crude oil is still very fresh, it can contain about 2,000 litresas we deactivate them all.”

In January, the Nigerian Navy said it had discovered five illegal refineries in some communities in the Araromi seaside area of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The military said the illegal refineries contained a total of 365,000 litres of crude oil, adding that the illegal refineries are undergoing destruction.

The Commanding Officer of the base, Navy Cpt. Wasuku Alushi disclosed this after he led the military team on a tour of the illegal refining sites.