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Men of the Nigerian Army, 6 Division, have uncovered an illegal oil depot in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The Army also impounded 16 trucks, of about 40,000-litre capacity each, generating sets and different sizes of hose, as well as apprehended one of the suspected operators of the illegal depot.
Briefing newsmen at the depot, located at a facility formerly used by Union Dicon Salt at Macoba, in Port Harcourt, on Thursday October 4, 2018, Army spokesman, Colonel Aminu Iliyasu, said the raid was based on intelligence report.
Iliyasu, who spook on behalf of the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Major-General Jamil Sarham, noted that the activities of illegal oil bunkerers had become too daring, and described these as economic sabotage and dangerous to the environment and human lives.
“When the adulterated product is supplied to members of the public, it endangers the lives of Nigerians. If we don’t talk, it would consume everybody,” he said.
He warned those involved in the economic sabotage to stop, or leave the states under 6 Division, vowing to prosecute any person caught indulging in oil theft.
Earlier, Lt. Col. Ibrahim Buhari, Commanding Officer of the 29 Battalion, 6 Division, said “When the troops arrived the scene on October 2, 2018 (Tuesday), they found 10 of the 16 trucks had already been loaded with illegally refined petroleum products suspected to be diesel and kerosene.
“By the time we arrived the site the suspects had escaped, taking along with them a barge. They used pumping machine to load the products from the barge into the trucks.
“We found out that after loading the adulterated products, the operators would proceed to a licensed loading point and thereafter move alongside with other trucks that loaded original products,” he said.
Buhari said that the troops were on the trail of the operators of the illegal refining facility with a view to bringing them to justice.
The Army said the impounded trucks would be handed over to the operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for the prosecution of the suspect and possible appearance of the owners of the trucks, who would want to come to claim their property.
