Men of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (FOB), Igbokoda, Ondo State, at the weekend, busted and destroyed eight illegal refineries in Ilaje Local Council Area of the state.

According to the Commanding Officer of the Base, Navy Captain Wasuku Alushi, the illegal refining sites, situated at the Awoye and Oge-bioku axis of the council area, were discovered through intel.

Speaking with journalists after the operation, Alushi disclosed that the exercise was in furtherance of the mandate of Operation Delta Sanity 2, launched to curb the activities of criminals involved in crude oil theft and illegal bunkering within the Niger Delta environment.

He said: “You will recall that on the 10th of January this year, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Okala, flagged off Operation Delta Sanity with the overall objective of sanitising the Niger Delta environment from the menace of crude oil theft, illegal oil bunkering, and other illegally related vices.

“Arising from the successes of Delta Sanity 1, Delta Sanity 2 was flagged off on the 10th of April, 2024, with a similar mandate.

“What we did this evening is still in furtherance of the mandate of Operation Delta Sanity 2, which is to curb criminal activities that included crude oil theft, illegal oil bunkering, and other vices in the Niger Delta environment.

“Today we were able to storm into their camp, which is the illegal refining site. Six were discovered around Awoye and another two around the Oge-Bioku axis. In total, eight of those camps were deactivated today.

The commanding officer disclosed that the modus operandi of the criminal elements has changed slightly from the previous operations.

“As you can see, they are moving deeper into the creeks, making it difficult for us to access those areas because they know that the boats have some constraints. Regardless of that, we also devised our own strategy, and that is why we are able to achieve this element of surprise.

“We have our own strategy, which is either we get the criminal elements where they are siphoning the crude oil, or we get them at the illegal refining site or when they are trying to transship the finished product.

“As a base, we remain relentless in our pursuit of the mandate of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ogala, until we free our Area of Operations from these criminal elements who are saboteurs to our commonwealth.

“We will continue to work together with well-meaning partners, traditional rulers, and all the good people of Ondo State who have been providing us with credible intelligence,” he assured.

Alushi further assured that they will go all out to ensure that they curb the menace of crude oil theft and illegal oil bunkering in their area of operations.

He, however, admonished the criminal elements to desist and have a rethink, stressing that “we are going to deploy every available means within our limited resources to ensure that we get at them and ensure that they pay dearly for their crimes.”