The 4 Brigade of Nigerian Army in Benin says it has carried out 592 anti-oil bunkering raids and destroyed 98 illegal refineries in the last one month.
The Brigade Public Relations Officer, Capt. Abubakar Abdullahi, made the development known at the destruction site of two truckloads of illegally refined petroleum products in Benin on Thursday.
Abdullahi said that operations of the brigade covered Edo, Delta and Ondo South Senatorial district.
He said one of the trucks contained 33,000 litres of illegally refined diesel, while the other had 13,000 litres of crude oil.
Abdullahi said the destruction of the vehicles “is one of the several operations of the brigade to stop illicit businesses being perpetrated by saboteurs’’.
He further said that within the last 40 days, “the brigade seized and destroyed 141 boats, 15 trucks and 40 illegal fuel reservoirs used for illegal oil refinery.
“We also recovered three weapons, seized 1,709 drums containing illegally refined petroleum products which were also destroyed.’’
Abdullahi added that the troops similarly arrested five suspects, who were handed over to different prosecution agencies.
He said the brigade recently seized equipment used in cutting burnt trucks and other items into pieces by “these saboteurs to carry out their illegal businesses.’’ (NAN)
