No fewer than fifty suspected militants and owners of illegal refineries have been taken into custody by men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Rivers State and about 15 illegal refineries in different locations in the Niger Delta region destroyed.
Commandant-General of NSCDC, Abdullahi Muhammadu, told newsmen in a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday that the suspects were arrested on Wednesday night, during a special operation by operatives of the NSCDC in the state.
He added that the suspects were being screened and profiled as part of investigations to know their level of culpability in pipeline bombings and vandalism in the Niger Delta region.
The CG said that those found culpable of the offences during the investigators would be charged to court and prosecuted for economic sabotage.
He said, “As of yesterday (Wednesday), 15 illegal refineries were destroyed and 50 militants were arrested, but we need to screen them to know those who would be charged to court, because there are many of them; 50 of them, just in a night.”