The Nigerian Navy (NN) Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Igbokoda, Ondo State, yesterday, destroyed four illegal refineries worth N20 million in Awoye Community in Ilaje Local Council of the state.

Commander of the Base, Navy Captain Wasuku Alushi, disclosed that the sites of the illegal refineries were discovered with the aid of aerial surveillance.

Alushi added that the operation was in tandem with the determination to checkmate criminal activities, such as kidnapping, crude oil theft, and illegal bunkering within the coastal region of the state.

He said: “You would recalled that two weeks ago, the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base in Igbokoda, under the directive of the Nigerian Flag Officer Commanding, launched a special operation here, and the essence is for us to extend our tentacles to be able to checkmate some of the criminal activities in the riverine environment, especially kidnapping, crude oil theft, and illegal bunkering.

“In the course of that operation, we got aerial intelligence on these illegal refinery sites, and since then, we have been planning judiciously.
“The terrain was a very difficult one; it is a whole network of criminal enterprises. As you can see, there is stolen crude; this engineering method was carefully carried out by these criminal elements.”

“What we are doing is in furtherance of the dictate of the Chief of Naval Staff, which is to stamp out illegal oil bunkering and crude oil theft, as well as other criminal acts from the riverine communities.”

“The strategy is threefold. The first is to arrest the criminal elements at the point of stealing the crude. If we cannot get them there, then we can get their illegal refinery sites. Good enough, we caught them at the point of refining.

“We have deactivated those illegal refineries. The next step is to crush the relics, which would discourage them even when they have the thought of reactivating those refineries. We would follow up with information and destroy them all.

“Our traditional rulers have been forthcoming. They have been trying in the area of giving us intelligence. We would like them to help us in the area of community agreement. They must continually sensitise their wards on the menace of crude oil theft, not to the economy alone but also to the effects on the environment.

“Beyond that, as soon as they are arrested, they will be made to face the full wrath of the law, and as a security agency, the Nigerian Navy will not relent in its efforts. We will go full lengths to ensure that we stamp out completely these criminal enterprises, especially in their Ondo area of operations.

“Here at the illegal refineries, they have numerous pieces of equipment like boats that they use in conveying the crude oil. As you can see, the crude oil is still very fresh,” he further said.