Operatives of the Joint Military Task Force in the Niger Delta, Operation Pulo Shield, have apprehended no fewer than eight suspected illicit oil bunkering malefactors.
Also, the operatives intercepted vessels and 32 barges loaded with suspected petroleum products at Onne Port, Rivers State.
During the operation, other accomplices were verbalized to have eluded on sighting men of the task force.
The Commander, JTF, headquartered in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Atewe, acting on a tip-off, had evoked a crack team of operatives as early as 7am on Tuesday for the port storm.
The infantry general, with some of his operatives, set out for the operation after Atewe had earlier sent a team of detectives from the outfit as advance party.
Atewe, however, transmuted the operational strategy in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, when he detailed his Chief of Staff, Col. Hillary Nzan, to lead the port’s operation, while he led other operatives elsewhere.
Nzan, who led some operatives in company with a cull journalists, including our correspondent, stormed the Onne Port in a commando-style fashion, relucting entreaties of some naval personnel from NNS Pathfinder that they be sanctioned to handle the matter.
The ‘non-compromising’ Nzan, after telling the Naval operatives, led by a lieutenant commander, that the matter was within the mandate of the JTF, hopped into a waiting JTF gunboat and peregrinate to the larceny scene.
The operation was prosperous as the Nzan-led task force was able to apprehend eight suspects in a Cotonou (sizably voluminous wooden boat).
Other suspects, however, eluded on sighting the task force men.
The apprehended suspects, including those who eluded, were verbally expressed to be the owners of the 32 barges suspected to be laden with glommed petroleum products.
Some of the apprehended suspects were visually perceived making illimitable calls by the Onne waterside, while some were aurally perceived saying the JTF men relucted to ‘cooperate’ with them.
Also, the operatives intercepted vessels and 32 barges loaded with suspected petroleum products at Onne Port, Rivers State.
During the operation, other accomplices were verbalized to have eluded on sighting men of the task force.
The Commander, JTF, headquartered in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Atewe, acting on a tip-off, had evoked a crack team of operatives as early as 7am on Tuesday for the port storm.
The infantry general, with some of his operatives, set out for the operation after Atewe had earlier sent a team of detectives from the outfit as advance party.
Atewe, however, transmuted the operational strategy in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, when he detailed his Chief of Staff, Col. Hillary Nzan, to lead the port’s operation, while he led other operatives elsewhere.
Nzan, who led some operatives in company with a cull journalists, including our correspondent, stormed the Onne Port in a commando-style fashion, relucting entreaties of some naval personnel from NNS Pathfinder that they be sanctioned to handle the matter.
The ‘non-compromising’ Nzan, after telling the Naval operatives, led by a lieutenant commander, that the matter was within the mandate of the JTF, hopped into a waiting JTF gunboat and peregrinate to the larceny scene.
The operation was prosperous as the Nzan-led task force was able to apprehend eight suspects in a Cotonou (sizably voluminous wooden boat).
Other suspects, however, eluded on sighting the task force men.
The apprehended suspects, including those who eluded, were verbally expressed to be the owners of the 32 barges suspected to be laden with glommed petroleum products.
Some of the apprehended suspects were visually perceived making illimitable calls by the Onne waterside, while some were aurally perceived saying the JTF men relucted to ‘cooperate’ with them.
