Three boats suspected of skimming crude oil from a pipeline in Rivers State were bombed by a jet from Operation Delta Safe’s air component.
The jet was conducting one of its operations at a riverine area between Bonny Island and South of Port Harcourt when it attacked the boat on Saturday.
According to Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, the NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, the crew found and destroyed an operational illegal refining station in the Rivers neighbourhood of Idama that included tanks and reservoirs laden with what they believed to be illegally processed items.
“These are not the best of times for oil thieves and their accomplices in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria as the Air Component of Operation Delta Safe continues to strike at the heart of their activities. One of such operation occurred on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at about 4 nautical miles South-East of Bille, a riverine area located west of Bonny Island and South of Port Harcourt, in Rivers State.
“The air strikes became necessary after three boats were sighted tapping crude oil from a pipeline. Consequently, the boats were engaged and destroyed by the aircraft. Flying towards Port Harcourt, the crew also observed an active illegal refining site with tanks and reservoirs loaded with suspected illegal refined products, about four miles South-East of Idama in Rivers State. The site was subsequently attacked and destroyed,” Gabkwet stated in a statement on Monday.
The Air Commodre said that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, has urged all air component commanders nationally to collaborate with other security agencies as they maintain air attacks against all criminal groups in the country.
“The days of treating criminal elements in our country with kids’ gloves are over. We must continue on this trajectory until we bring all of them to their knees,” he explained.
cc: Punch Ng
