Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral David Adeniran, says his command has destroyed 128 illegal refineries between January to November this year.
Besides, he said 320 persons, 8 vessels, 145 wooden boats, 19,989 metric tonnes of petroleum products as well as 30,843.8 metric tonnes of crude oil were arrested and intercepted by the command this year.
Rear Admiral Adeniran, who disclosed this at the Command Headquarters during the FOC Division Parade for 2019, said the success recorded was as a result of personnel’s dedication to duty.
He said: “The command improved her patrol efforts to reduce the activities of illegal bunkerers and refinery operations as well as anti-pipeline vandalism/crude oil theft.
“Our efforts led to the arrest of 8 vessels, 145 large wooden boats, 320 persons and the seizure of 19,989 metric tonnes of petroleum products as well as 30,843.8 metric tonnes of crude oil”, he said.
He added that following the closure of land borders by government to forestall smuggling, the command witnessed an upsurge in smuggling by suspected smugglers.
The command he said intensified it’s activities and this resulted in the arrest of several boats attempting to smuggle 16,733 bags of foreign rice worth millions of naira into the country.
He commended the Chief of Naval staff for his support to the Command and pledged the commands continued loyalty to the service of the nation.