The Nigerian Army’s 6th Division announced on Wednesday that it discovered a vast illegal refinery camp and confiscated five million litres of stolen crude oil stashed in a reservoir in Rivers State.
Maj.-Gen. Jamal Abdussalam, General Officer Commanding, 6 Division, stated that the illegal refinery was discovered near the Mirinwanyi channel of the Imo River in the Komkom section of the Oyigbo Local Government area of the state.
He said the army discovered almost five million litres of stolen crude oil hidden in a reservoir and that, given the scope of the robbery, influential people were responsible.
“I said before that most of the arrests were labourers working on the site; we have not been able to get the real culprits.
“We can see the facilities here. It is not something that ordinary people can set up. It needs money, expertise, and careful planning.
“So it is beyond the people we arrest. We are following several leads, and we are hoping that those leads will take us to those who are actually responsible,” the GOC said.
The recent finding comes about a week after the army uncovered around three million barrels of crude oil in an illegal refinery at Odagwa in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The GOC described the new discovery as tragic and stated that the army will not stop working to remove all illegal refineries and linkages in its area of responsibility.
He said, “This is in continuation of our operations to destroy all illegal refineries and illegal connections in our area of responsibility. Based on credible intelligence, this morning, our troops raided this location.
“I thought we would not see anything more than the raid we carried out at Odagwa; unfortunately, we are seeing very sad illegal activities taking place in this area.
“We have discovered over 15 boilers and about nine reservoirs. From our estimation, the crude oil that has been stolen and reserved here for processing is over five million litres.
“On our way, we saw large Cotonou boats capable of taking 200 litres. We saw more than five trucks on our way filled with crude oil. It is indeed very sad that these activities continued. We will not get tired. We will continue with our job.”
