Authorities ofthe Joint TaskForce (JTF) in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, on Friday, smashed an oil theft syndicateusing the waterfront of Otuogori community in Ogbia Local government Area of Bayelsa State as illegal depot to ferry locally refined petroleum products to other parts of the country.
Six suspected members of the oil syndicate were also arrested, while a tanker with a 36,000-litre capacity loading illegally refined product from a surface tank positioned along the community shoreline was impounded during the operation led by the Commander 5 Battalion of the JTF, Lt. Colonel Ja'afaru Ibrahim.
Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that some members of the riverine community allegedly involved in the illicit business were caught unaware in the early morning raid, a development which forced them to flee their homes stuffed with refined products to avoid being arrested by JTF operatives.
Conducting newsmen round the scene of the operation, the media coordinator of the JTF in Niger Delta, Lt. Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu hinted that the suspected members of the oil theft syndicate were apprehended around 3.00am on Friday.
The latest arrest came on the heels of last week destruction of 218 illegal refineries, 151 surface tanks and oil dumps around Oporoza in the Ecravos waterways of Delta State, Alakiri waterside and the adjoining creeks of Sombreiro river in Abonema, Rivers State.
Items recovered during the operation include a 36,000-litre capacity tanker, marked XQ 239 LSR and used in conveying illegally refined diesel, 26 large surface tanks, 2 Geepee tanks, each having 500-litre storage capacity, over 300 drums of diesel, gigantic hoses and generators.
Also seized were 10 pumping machines used in siphoning stolen crude oil as well as in transferring illegally refined products from surface tanks to vessels.
The impounded items, including drums of diesel, were later moved away from the residential areas and destroyed by the JTF, just as measures were being explored to sensitise communities in the Niger Delta against being used as safe haven for oil thieves and illegal bunkerers.
According to Lt. Colonel Nwachukwu, "We are stepping up our operations to eradicate the illicit activities of crude oil thieves in the South-South. "Arran- gements have been concluded to kick start advocacy at the community level as part of the efforts to rid the region of undesirable elements that are hell bent in bleeding the nation's economy.''
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