Kanyi Okeke
AMIDST reported loss of over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the nefarious activities of illegal bunkerers
, authorities of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, on Monday, arrested 21 Ghanaians and five Nigerian collaborators for allegedly stealing the product and operating outlawed refineries in the creeks of the South-South.
Besides, two vessels, marked MT Ani and MT Oso, allegedly used by the arrested culprits in siphoning the crude oil were also impounded by the operatives of the JTF.
Credible source authoritatively informed the Nigerian Tribune that following increase in the activities of oil thieves and thriving local refineries in the Niger Delta, authorities of the JTF decided to embark on a special operation codenamed "Operation Clean Up Somberio River" aimed at nipping the inimical activities of the illegal bunkerers in the bud.
Acting on a tip-off, troops of the 130 Battalion, Sector 2 of JTF were said to have succeeded in rounding up the suspected oil thieves, made the arrest on Monday in a discreet raid codenamed "Operation Clean-up Somberio River," around South-Eastern part of Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Confirming the arrest of the suspects to our correspondent in Yenagoa, on Tuesday, the media coordinator of JTF, Lieutenant-Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, said 650,000 metric tonnes of stolen crude oil were also recovered.
He stated that the suspects had been handed over to the Sector 2 command of the outfit for interrogations.
