The Nigerian Navy has recorded fresh operational successes in its ongoing crackdown on crude oil theft and other illegal activities in the Niger Delta under Operation DELTA SENTINEL.

In separate operations, naval personnel attached to Nigerian Navy Ship PATHFINDER and Nigerian Navy Ship SOROH disrupted illegal oil refining activities and arrested suspected illegal miners in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, respectively.

During an Anti-Crude Oil Theft patrol around the Ojekiri general area of Rivers State, the patrol team from NNS PATHFINDER uncovered an illegal refinery site along the Alakiri River. The site contained about 10 dugout pits loaded with approximately 45,000 litres of stolen crude oil.

According to the Nigerian Navy, the illegal facility and the stored crude oil were destroyed in line with established operational procedures. Suspected operators of the site reportedly fled the area on sighting the approaching naval personnel.

In a related operation, a patrol team from NNS SOROH, acting on credible intelligence and in line with a directive by the Bayelsa State Government banning black sand mining, arrested 37 suspected illegal miners at Anyama Jetty in Yenagoa.

The suspects were reportedly caught while attempting to offload an unspecified quantity of black sand from a wooden boat into two trucks waiting at the jetty. The arrested individuals, alongside the trucks, the wooden boat and the recovered mineral resources, were later handed over to Operation DOO-AKPO for further investigation.

The Nigerian Navy said the latest operations were carried out in line with the directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Idi Abbas, for naval formations and units to intensify operations against crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and other forms of economic sabotage across Nigeria’s maritime environment.

The service reaffirmed its commitment to sustaining the momentum of Operation DELTA SENTINEL by leveraging intelligence and technology to safeguard Nigeria’s critical national assets and economic interests in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.