The Naval patrol team deployed by NNS Pathfinder has arrested two barges at Taraba Jetty in Port Harcourt for alleged involvement in oil bunkering. The arrest was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the spokesman for the Nigerian Navy, Rear Admiral Christian Ezekobe.
Rear Admiral Ezekobe said one of the arrested barges had about 70,000 litres of suspected illegally refined AGO while the other was purportedly carrying a mixture of AGO and water.
Additionally, the patrol team arrested another barge conveying about 200 Metric Tonnes (MT) of suspected illegally refined AGO at Owogoro Jetty in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital in south-south Nigeria.
The statement read: “In a related development, the patrol teams deployed by NNS Delta for daily patrols have continually secured shipping in and out of Warri axis.
“However, in the course of the patrol, the patrol team discovered and destroyed two illegal refineries together with an estimated 120MT of products suspected to be illegally refined AGO and another 20MT of stolen crude oil at Bikpoku Creek/Asigbo Creek in Warri South LGA of Delta State.
“Additionally, another patrol team from NNS DELTA discovered and destroyed five illegal refineries with about 100MT of combined products at KO Creek in Warri South West LGA of Delta State.
“Bringing to seven, the number of illegal refineries destroyed in the area in the last two days”.
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