The Nigerian Navy came out smoking hot against crude oil thieves in the Niger Delta region, warning them to change their line of business to legitimate and responsible income generating ventures or face its wrath.

Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (NNFOB), Capt. Maksum Mohammed issued this warning on Thursday, May 9, 2024 at Opuoko Mangrove Forest in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State during an operation to destroy an illegal refining site.

“By way of warning to those that engage in these illegal activities, we will not relent in our effort to hunt you down, discover you, find you wherever you are and continue to disrupt your activities and dislocate you to a point where we can deny you total freedom of action in carrying out these illegal activities of economic sabotage against the country.”

“As a note of warning, it’s better those involved in these activities consider another line of profession because we will not stop in our efforts to bring it to a stop.”

“The Chief of the Naval Staff has zero tolerance for oil theft. He has mandated all Bases to carry out onslaughts against the crude oil thieves.

“As a result of that, he created the Operation Delta Sanity Taskforce with a mandate, a specific mandate to chase the crude oil thieves and disrupt their activities along the entire chain or process chain and as a result of that onslaught, the Forward Operating Base, Bonny has not relented in carrying out its activities.

He stated that the instant illegal refining site was discovered by the FOB Bonny, informing that a swamp buggy would be deployed for total obliteration of the site, thus disrupting the supply chain of illegal artisanal refining activities in the area.

“Yesterday, we found this place and before now one of the refined products that was stored that was in the process of been transported for their market was burnt yesterday.”

“This very facility we found is one of the largest we have come across and you can see this is new. It shows that it was just set up.

“We are going to disrupt and continue to dislocate them wherever we find them until we are able to deny them freedom of action to carry out these activities and bring crude oil theft to zero. That is the mandate of the Base and we are going to follow it relentlessly to the end.”

Citing the operational guidance and strategic direction of the current Chief of Naval Staff, the NNFOB Commanding Officer stressed that the onslaught against economic sabotage and crude oil theft would be sustained, deploying the Nigerian Navy’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets to ensure full clearance of the area.

“This is Opuoko bush located in Andoni Local Government area, the Forward Operating Base, Bonny found this place as a result of a credible intelligence that led to us discovering very enormous illegal refining site which has about 16 cooking pots, 14 storage areas and lots of other auxiliaries. This is as a result of the Base ultimately keying into the strategic directive of the chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogala.”

The incidented illegal refining site deep inside the mangrove forest bounding Kaa Waterside, Ajakajak and Ibotirem Communities covered almost an hectare of land with different equipment mounted in different places for the illegal artisanal activity.