By Destiny Obinna
The Nigerian Navy and the Federal Government’s Special Prosecution Team of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Petroleum Theft have uncovered a 40,000-litre-capacity illegal crude oil refinery in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The operation also comes as the task force disclosed that it had secured 137 convictions for petroleum theft offences since its establishment in 2025.
The illegal refinery was discovered on Friday during a joint operation by personnel of the Nigerian Navy and the task force at a creek in Bonny, following actionable intelligence coordinated through the Joint Intelligence Monitoring Team, JIMT.
The operation involved personnel from several security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Speaking after the discovery, the Commanding Officer, Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, FOB, Bonny, Captain Stanley Umeh, described the facility as the biggest his team had uncovered since he assumed command in March 2026.
Umeh said the refinery, located deep inside the creeks, was still at the preparatory stage, with refining activities yet to commence fully.
He said the scale of the facility indicated that the operators were preparing to siphon and refine crude oil in large quantities.
His words: “This discovery here is a product of long-time synergy between the base and other security agencies within the island and outside. It has been a product of actionable intelligence over time.
“This is their preparatory stage. You could see from the build-up and the set-up of the illegal refinery, it’s meant to be a very big one that would see the siphoning or stealing of crude and brought here for cooking in large quantity.
“This discovery is a plus to the fight against crude oil theft in Nigeria, towards increasing the production or crude sales production in the country.”
Umeh assured residents of intensified surveillance and patrols across the waterways and remote areas of Bonny to prevent further activities by oil thieves.
“It’s been a zero tolerance for us, both in and out of the waters. It’s been zero tolerance for this kind of illegalities within Bonny Local Government Area generally.
“It is also within the Chief of Naval Staff Strategic Directive that we ensure zero tolerance of all crude oil theft within our maritime corridors,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Head of Investigation, Special Prosecution Team of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Petroleum Theft, CSP Omar John Sini, said the task force had secured 137 convictions since its formation in 2025.
Sini attributed the latest operation to intelligence provided by the JIMT, led by Major General A.A. Idris under the supervision of the Chief of Defence Staff.
He said the collaboration between intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies had strengthened efforts to detect and disrupt petroleum theft before it occurs.
“Since inception to now, we’ve been able to secure at least 137 convictions, and that is largely responsible for the drop in the illicit activities in the hydrocarbon sector,” Sini said.
He explained that while the intelligence team was responsible for gathering and coordinating actionable intelligence, the Special Prosecution Team focused principally on investigation and prosecution.
According to him, the use of technology by the collaborating agencies enabled them to identify and track the location of the illegal refinery.
He said: “The primary purpose of law enforcement is to detect crime. We don’t even want it to occur so that we don’t be reactive, we want to be preventive.”
Sini disclosed that three suspects allegedly linked to the financing of the illegal refinery were already in custody, adding that investigators were working to establish their roles in the operation.
He said the suspects had invested millions of naira in establishing the facility.
“We’ve been able to detect, we allowed them to invest their money, their hard-earned resources, and they’ve built this refinery with an amount that would be running into millions of Naira.
“What we are about to do after now, in accordance with law, is that we are going to treat this place in accordance to extant laws, and afterwards, face and prosecute the culprits already in custody,” he said.
Sini said the task force would pursue prosecution in accordance with extant laws, stressing that convictions for petroleum theft offences should result in appropriate punishment capable of deterring further criminal activity.
