This is because in several operations conducted simultaneously last week, troops effectively denied criminal elements and economic saboteurs freedom of action with tremendous successes recorded.
A statement by the Acting Deputy Director, Six Division Army Public Relations, Lieutenant Colonel, Danjuma Jonah Danjuma revealed that over one hundred and fifteen illegal refining sites were discovered, sixty-six boats destroyed, twenty two suspects arrested, twenty seven stolen pipes, four pumping machines were recovered in recent operation.
Lieutenant Colonel, Jonah-Danjuma said in Bayelsa State, troops of the Division, conducted operations around the swampy Ibidi general area, Twon Brass, Agip Terminal in Brass Local Government Area where one illegal refining site, one generator, one pumping machine, one reservoir as well as one large wooden boat with stolen illegally refined products estimated to be over ninety thousand litres was intercepted.
In Rivers State, troops of the Division also dominated the operations environment, with footprints of operational successes where in the notorious Imo River, over seventy nine illegal refining sites, fifty-nine wooden boats were destroyed, with over forty thousand stolen products recovered.
The General Officer Commanding, 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Jamal Abdussalam has urged troops to ensure zero tolerance for illegal artisanal refinery activities and associated crimes in the Niger Delta Region.
He urged critical stakeholders, particularly the communities where these illegalities thrive to rise up to the occasion, giving the devastating effects these criminalities have on their immediate environment and the nations economy.
