The Defence Headquarters on Thursday said troops of Operation Delta Safe, discovered and deactivated 25 illegal refineries and impounded 342,000 litres of illegally refined AGO in the South-South in the last two weeks.
The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, disclosed this while giving updates on military operations in Abuja.
Enenche said the troops had intensified the fight against crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the region with attendant successes.
According to him, Operation Delta Safe discovered and deactivated 25 illegal refining sites in Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom within the period under review.
He also disclosed that the troops of subsidiary operations, Calm Waters II and Swift Response, seized 141x50kg bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice and impounded boats involved in the activities.
According to him, as part of non kinetic activities, the Nigerian Navy Ship, DELTA, led a peace and reconciliation meeting with stakeholders of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta.
“The peace meeting was held, following recent threats to disrupt oil and gas infrastructure by the people of Gbaramatu Kingdom.
“Accordingly, the naval base summoned a meeting with the key actors in the agitation.
“The activists thanked the military for the timely intervention and promised to tow the path of peace.
“The meeting was fruitful as they promised to do all within their reach to forestall violence in the area.
“They also solicited the cooperation of the military in providing security in the area,” he saidnan.
