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Troops of the Joint Task Force, Operation DELTA SAFE have denied oil thieves a total of Two Hundred and Fifty Nine Million Two Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Five Naira (N259,254,565.00) within two weeks.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Musa Danmadami disclosed this on Thursday at the biweekly briefing on activities of troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in six geographical zones of the Country.
Maj Gen Danmadami said troops arrested 28 suspected criminals, recovered 5 weapons and 300 assorted ammunitions at different locations within the general area of operations.
He noted that troops continued the war against oil theft, illegal refineries and other criminal activities in the South South zone of the country through aggressive patrols and increased tempo in raids and clearance operations as well as other activities aimed at denying criminal elements freedom of action.
"In furtherance to this troops conducted operational activities at different locations within Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State respectively.
Consequently, within the weeks in review, troops of Operation DELTA SAFE in the conduct of Operation OCTOPUS GRIP discovered and destroyed 46 illegal refining sites, 241 storage tanks, 295 cooking ovens, 29 wooden boats and 38 dugout pits.
Troops equally recovered 186,500 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 407,500 litres of crude oil, 9 vehicles, 2 pumping machine, 4 motorcycles, 2 speedboats, 1 generator and 2 outboard engine.
All items recovered and arrested suspects within the region have been handed over to the relevant authority for further action.