Precision airstrikes undertaken by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) have destroyed illegal refining sites in Rivers State and killed several terrorists riding on motorcycles in Niger State.
NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Vice Marshal Edward Gabkwet said the oil thieves in the Niger Delta region have continued to find new ways of concealing their overhead tanks used in storing stolen crude oil products from busted pipelines just as they have continued to use fast speed boats to convey their stolen goods.
AVM Gabkwet however said unfortunately for them, NAF and other security agencies have also up their game with modern technology and hardware that enables them to detect and deter their activities.
He said the Air Component Operation Delta Safe in Wilcourt, a riverine settlement within the creeks of Niger Delta notorious for illegal oil activities, sighted and destroyed three Illegal Refining Sites (IRS) with seven overhead tanks concealed under thick mangrove vegetation.
The Naval spokesperson said four boats were also sighted at about 5km moving southwards with suspected illegally refined products.
AVM Gabkwet added that the boats were subsequently attacked and destroyed, adding that the crew spotted a speed boat with five suspected oil thieves fleeing the area while heading back from the operation.
According to him, upon sighting the aircraft, the suspected oil thieves increased speed, hoping to evade the aircraft.
However, the air crew pursued the speedboat until they arrived at a blocking zone mounted by two boats belonging to Nigerian Army Amphibious under the Land Component of Operation Delta Safe.
Gabkwet said similar successes were recorded in the Northwest following a tip-off about terrorists hibernating at Dandunu after rustling cattle from communities around the Kuchi-Kapana axis in Munya local government areas of Niger State.
He said the NAF following the tip-off deployed its air assets to scan the area which led to the interception of the terrorists on nine motorcycles leading the rustled cattle.
“In several passes, the motorcycle-riding terrorists were struck by the aircraft, and most of them eliminated in the process.
The feedback from locals around the location have so far been positive, with most of them being able to recover the rustled cattle and returning to their livelihoods,” he said.