Joint task force finds planned 40,000-litre illegal refinery in Rivers

A joint operation by the Nigerian Navy and the Federal Government Inter-Agency Task Force on Petroleum Theft has uncovered a 40,000-litre-capacity illegal refinery on Bonny Island in Rivers State. The facility was concealed in the creeks and was discovered after intelligence coordinated through the Joint Intelligence Monitoring Team, according to officials involved in the operation. Captain Stanley Umeh, commanding officer of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base in Bonny, described the discovery as the biggest made by his team since he took command in March 2026.

He said naval gunboats transported operatives into the creeks, after which they walked through dense vegetation to reach the site. Umeh said the refinery was still being prepared and had not yet begun processing crude. Its layout, he said, suggested that it was intended to handle large quantities of stolen crude oil.

Omar John Sini, head of investigation for the task force’s Special Prosecution Team, said three suspects linked to financing the operation were in custody. He said the authorities had applied to a court for the relevant order and would handle the site in accordance with existing laws before prosecuting those responsible. Sini said the task force, inaugurated on March 1, 2025, had secured at least 137 convictions since its formation.

He said the latest operation reflected a preventive approach aimed at disrupting oil theft before a facility became operational. The officials said intelligence, security and law-enforcement agencies worked together to locate the site. Umeh promised increased patrols and surveillance across Bonny’s waterways and remote areas, while Sini called for stronger sentencing provisions for petroleum-theft offences.