Operatives uncover massive cache hidden in creeks, vegetation along Rivers-Bayelsa border
The Nigerian Navy has dealt a major blow to oil thieves and economic saboteurs with the recovery of 92,660 litres of suspected illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), popularly known as diesel, hidden in creeks along the Rivers-Bayelsa border.
The breakthrough was recorded under Operation DELTA SENTINEL, the Navy’s ongoing crackdown on crude oil theft and illegal petroleum activities in the Niger Delta.
In a statement issued on Friday, Director of Naval Information, Navy Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, disclosed that personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) SOROH acted on credible intelligence and stormed Okolomade Community in Abua/Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State.
According to him, aerial surveillance and follow-up search operations led to the discovery of 138 sacks loaded with suspected illegally refined diesel, carefully concealed under thick vegetation and hidden at strategic points along adjoining waterways.
Folorunsho said the operation exposed the sophisticated tactics being adopted by criminal syndicates, who now use remote creek-side storage facilities to evade security agencies and sustain the illegal petroleum trade.
“The operation highlights the increasing use of concealed storage locations by economic saboteurs involved in illegal refining and petroleum distribution activities within the Niger Delta region,” he stated.
He added that the recovered products were handled in line with extant regulations, effectively denying the perpetrators access to resources intended to finance their illicit operations.
The Navy spokesman reaffirmed the service’s commitment to sustaining intelligence-driven operations aimed at dismantling crude oil theft networks and protecting the nation’s critical oil assets.
He stressed that the Nigerian Navy would continue to intensify surveillance and enforcement activities across the Niger Delta to ensure that criminals operating in the region are identified, apprehended and brought to justice.
The latest seizure is part of ongoing efforts by security agencies to curb oil theft, illegal refining and environmental degradation caused by criminal activities in the nation’s oil-producing communities.
