NSCDC Discovers Illegal Refinery In Rivers’ Thick Forest

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has  discovered another illegal bunkering site where stolen crude oil is channelled to a thick forest in Umuedeokwara Community, Etche Local Government Area, Rivers State, where it is refined.

According to a press statement issued on Tuesday by the NSCDC’s National Public Relations Officer, Afolabi Babawale, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CG’SIS) discovered another illegal bunkering site where stolen crude oil was tapped, channelled to reservoirs, and refined locally in a thick forest at Umuedeokwara Community, Etche Local Government Area, Rivers State.

He stated that the CG’s SIS Commander, Deputy Commandant Appolos Dandaura, hinted during a media briefing that the squad acted on sustained intelligence, which revealed that a gang of criminal elements was operating an illegal refinery at the crime scene.

Dandaura stated, “Like we always reiterate, our operations are intelligence-based, and we value every piece of information and the integrity of our informants; we swung into action, combed the entire forest, and discovered where the suspects were refining crude oil locally after storage in large trampoline reservoirs and further packaging them in cellophane bags and sacks.

“These unscrupulous saboteurs used inserted valves to connect fabricated and galvanised metallic pipes to the trunk lines of multinational oil pipeline installations; however, the suspects fled through the creeks when they saw our men.

“The following exhibits were marked at the crime scene: approximately 20,000 litres of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) stored in cellophane bags, large quantities of syphoned crude oil stored in tarpaulin reservoirs, various sizes of aluminium and plastic buckets, galvanised metallic Fabricated pipes, heavy-duty industrial hoses and suspect clothing.”

Appolos said that the squad would always carry out the matching order of the Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Audi, on the need to smoke out illegal bunkers and effect massive arrests for possible prosecution, frustrating their continuous efforts to sabotage the economy and increase oil production in the nation, adding that “the fight against illegal dealings in petroleum products is without compromise as the CG’SIS will not rest in combating the menace of crude oil.”