Troops of the Nigerian Navy have destroyed illegal refining sites in Rivers State and seized stolen products.

A statement by the Naval spokesperson, Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, said the feat was achieved by Nigerian Navy Ship Soroh and the Forward Operating Base Bonny, both deployed for "Operation Delta Sentinel."

According to the statement, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) SOROH, on Saturday destroyed a reactivated illegal refinery site in Okolomade Community, Abua-Odual local government area of Rivers State.

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He said the troops, acting on credible intelligence indicating that a previously deactivated illegal refining site had been reactivated, deployed an Anti-Crude Oil Theft (Anti-COT) team to the location, which discovered that the previously dismantled refining oven had been reconstructed.

He said further exploitation of the area led to the discovery of additional refining equipment and storage facilities containing about 3,000 litres of product suspected to be illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).

"The illegal refining infrastructure, including ovens, storage tanks, hoses, connected pipes and newly acquired metal components used for illegal refining activities, was subsequently destroyed in accordance with extant operational procedures," he said.

In a related development, troops destroyed an illegal crude oil storage site within the Forward Operating Base (FOB) BONNY Area of Operations in Rivers State.

According to him, the naval unit, leveraging the Nigerian Navy's Maritime Surveillance technology, uncovered concealed dugout pits hidden beneath thick vegetation within creeks in the Opotumbi general area.

"FOB BONNY elements moved swiftly to the site and discovered 4 x dug-out pits containing a cumulative 17,500 litres of products suspected to be stolen crude oil. The recovered products were subsequently destroyed in accordance with extant operational guidelines," he said.