The Etche Local Government Council which is likely to resume the exercise to rid the area of the activities of illegal refiners has destroyed no less than 30 illegal refining camps.
No date has been fixed for the next push against illegal refining activities, but we have gathered, that the council might be securing heavy-duty equipment that would be needed to permanently destroy such facilities.
Eyewitnesses in the Akwa/Odogwa area say “the search and destroy mission” was led by Hon Obinna Anyanwu.
Anyanwu told the Telegraph in a chat that the council was able, with the aid of security details who joined in the operation, to “smash 32 camps” used by illegal bunkerers and illicit businessmen to produce petroleum products.
The biggest of the facilities destroyed, we have learnt, had a marine pipeline laid to a nearby stream through which petroleum products are transported by boat via the Imo River.
Anyanwu who took stock of the council’s effort assured that the exercise would be a continuous one until “those destroying the natural vegetation of Etcheland as well as its ecosystems are either frustrated or brought to book.”
The Telegraph has obtained pictures and videos showing the extent of damage inflicted on the operations of owners of illegal refining facilities.
Anyanwu and his team in the forest on the trail of illegal refineries in Etche
One of the storage reservoirs, a waterfront used to transport illegally refined products