Soldiers Take Over Illegal Refinery In Komkom Forest, Seize 5 Million Litres Of Stolen Crude Oil

The 6 Division of the Nigerian Army has taken over a massive illegal refinery camp with the capacity to refine five million litres of stolen crude oil in Rivers State.

The troops of the division raided the camp located along the Mirinwanyi channel of the Imo-Rivers at the Komkom area of Oyigbo local government area of the state.

It was found that about five million litres of crude oil had already been stolen to be refined in the camp before the troops of the division raided the area.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Maj.-Gen. Jamal Abdussalam and officers of the division went to the far-flung creek on speedboats on Wednesday to assess the camp.

The visit showed that the operators carefully set up the camp with 15 boilers, nine storage tanks, newly acquired pipes, makeshift houses, and other expensive facilities worth millions of naira.

It was observed that the camp sitting on an expansive forest had been engulfed by fire, which destroyed all the green vegetation in the area.

On their way to the camp, the troops also found about five big wooden Cotonou boats laden with crude oil along the waterways.

Abdusalam, who painstakingly toured the entire camp, described his findings as sad saying the division would not relent in its determination to destroy all illegal refineries and illegal connections in its area of responsibility.

He said after their last raid of an illegal refinery at Odagwa in Etche local government, he thought that no other one would be bigger until the troops carried out the latest raid.

Abdusalam said: “This is in continuation of our operations to destroy all illegal refineries, and illegal connections in our area of responsibility. Based on credible intelligence, this morning, our troops raided this location.

“I thought we would not see anything more than the raid we carried out at Odagwa, unfortunately, we are seeing very sad illegal activities taking place in this area.

“We have discovered over 15 boilers and about nine reservoirs. From our estimation, the crude oil that had been stolen and reserved here for processing is over 5 million litres.

“On our way, we saw large Cotonou boats capable of taking 200 litres. We saw more than five on our way filled with crude oil. It is indeed very sad that these activities continued. We will not get tired. We will continue with our job.”

He said though the operators fled the area, the division was following some leads to arrest the real culprits behind the sabotage.

He said: “No arrest has been made. I said it before that most of the arrests were labourers working on the site. We have not been able to get real culprits. We can see the facilities here. It is not something that ordinary people can set up. It needs money, expertise, and careful planning.

“So it is beyond the people we arrest. We are following several leads and we are hoping that those leads will take us to those, who are actually responsible. This activity is illegal, criminal, and dirty. We call on people to embrace legitimate businesses.”