The military has in the last five months uncovered and busted 636 illegal refining sites and intercepted 21.7 million litres of crude oil valued at N54bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The figures were collated from press releases by the military on the activities of troops against oil thieves between August 3 and December 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PUNCH<\/em> reports that President Bola Tinubu met with service chiefs in June and gave them a marching order to end oil theft in the country, in order to shore up the country\u2019s revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, there has been a heightened military onslaught against oil thieves, particularly in the South-South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data analysis by The PUNCH<\/em> showed that no fewer than 610 suspected oil thieves were nabbed within the five months under review. Also, a total of 670 boats used to convey stolen crude oil and its products were impounded by the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the military, on August 3, 36 illegal refining sites, 310,700 litres of stolen crude oil and seven suspected oil theft were arrested along with 32 wooden boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On August 11, 39 illegal refining sites were discovered; 1,247,700 litres of stolen crude oil valued at\u00a0 N607,346,75 were recovered and 17 suspected oil thieves were arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Military operations on August 25 led to the arrest of 22 suspected oil thieves and the recovery of 682,400 litres of stolen crude oil valued at N414,396.250.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On August 31, the military busted 34 active illegal refining sites, recovered 569,400 litres of stolen crude oil, valued at N765,863,000 and arrested 16 suspects along with 36 boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On September 7, the military intercepted 191 suspected oil thieves and recovered 6,652,250 litres of stolen crude oil valued at N4bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On September 14, the military uncovered 89 illegal refining sites, recovered 1,205,950 litres of stolen crude oil estimated at N1,011,851,250 and arrested 45 suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, during operations conducted on September 22, troops recovered 496,250 litres of stolen crude oil worth N946,387,570.00 and arrested seven suspects with 16 boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On September 28, troops in the Niger Delta region discovered 34 illegal refining sites, recovered 696,250 litres of stolen crude oil valued at N388,469,650.00 and arrested 22 suspects with 21 boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On October 26, the military uncovered 53 illegal refining sites, recovered 983,350 litres of stolen crude oil valued at N968m and arrested 19 suspects with 66 boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On November 17, troops discovered 49 refining sites, recovered 151,850 litres of stolen crude oil estimated at N128m and arrested 49 suspected oil thieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Troops destroyed 50 illegal refining sites, recovered 578,900 litres of crude oil valued at N1bn and arrested 49 suspects with 31 boats on November 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, On December 1, troops destroyed 51 illegal refining sites, recovered 267,700 litres of crude oil estimated at N668m and arrested 58 oil thieves with 25 boats<\/p>\n\n\n\n A security expert, Oladele Fajana, urged the military not to rest on their laurels, adding that the activities of oil thieves had seriously impacted the economy of the country negatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheir arrests and recoveries are quite impressive. They must do more because the activities of oil thieves are inimical to the nation\u2019s economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The military has in the last five months uncovered and busted 636 illegal refining sites and intercepted 21.7 million litres of crude oil valued at N54bn. The figures were collated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_rishi_post_view_count":184},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economia","rishi-post"],"rishi__cb_customizer_meta":"","comments_count":"0","yoast_head":"\n