By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa— The Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta, code named Operation Pulo Shield, said its operatives have discovered and destroyed a metal fabrication camp used in manufacturing illegal bunkering tanks and other equipment in Burutu, Delta State.

Spokesman of JTF, Lt. Col Mustapha Anka disclosed this yesterday in a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

He said though no arrest was made as the suspects fled the metal fabrication camp before the arrival of the troops, 13 other suspects were arrested in separate raids launched across the creeks of Bayelsa, Edo, Delta and Rivers states.

He said: “The anti-illegal oil bunkering squad of the task force has discovered an illegal metal fabrication camp where illegal oil bunkering tanks and other equipment are manufactured at Burutu community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

“The fabrication site was destroyed. No arrest was made as the suspects fled before the arrival of the troops.”

He added that troops deployed to Ethiope West and Ologbo in Ikpobe-Okha Local Govern-ment areas of Delta and Edo states, respectively, arrested five suspected illegal oil bunkerers while on patrol.

According to him, one of the suspects had been on the wanted list of the task force for illegal oil bunkering activities in Delta and Edo states.