The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), on Monday, disclosed that its private security contractor, messrs Tantita Security Services, successfully intercepted a suspicious vessel laden with stolen crude oil on July 7.
Spokesman of NNPCL, Garba Deen Muhammad, in a Twitter post, said the feat followed the receipt of credible intelligence.
Muhammad, who gave the name of the vessel as MT TURA II, with IMO number: 6620462, said it is owned by a Nigerian registered company, HOLAB Maritime Services Limited, with registration number RC 813311.
He added that the vessel was heading to Cameroun with the cargo on board when it was apprehended at an offshore location (Latitude: 5.8197194477543235°, Longitude: 4.789002723991871°), with the captain and crew members on board.
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The NNPCL image maker said preliminary investigations revealed that the crude oil cargo onboard was illegally sourced from a well jacket offshore Ondo State, Nigeria.
“There was no valid documentation for the vessel or the crude oil cargo onboard at the time of the arrest.
“Further investigation into the activities of the vessel at the NNPC Ltd. Command and Control Centre also revealed that the vessel has been operating in stealth mode for the last twelve 12 years. The last reported location of the Vessel was Tin Can Port in July 2011.
“Details of this arrest and the outcomes of the investigations were escalated to the appropriate government authorities, upon which it was concluded to destroy the Vessel to serve as a strong warning and deterrent to all those participating in such illegal activities to cease and desist.
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“Destroying vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil is of paramount importance as a strong deterrent. The illegal trade of stolen crude oil not only inflicts significant economic losses on Nigeria and legitimate stakeholders in the oil industry, but also perpetuates a cycle of corruption, environmental devastation, and social instability”, Muhammad added.
He assured Nigerians that the company will sustain the onslaught against crude oil thieves until the scourge is ended.
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Definitely, destroying the vessel and the product is an inappropriate action ment to pervert justice to this case considering the quantity and the value of the stolen products and the value of the vessel. The appropriate action should have been to arrest the vessel and the crews for prosecution. Any action short of that should be considered as economic sabotage and those responsible for the destruction of the vessel and its cargo should be prosecuted hence, several vessels were seized by the Navy and handed over to the NSCDC for investigation and prosecution many times over and the investigation by the NSCDC has never seen the light of the day. The act of destroying the evidence was meant to pervert justice to those previous and the present debacle of crude oil theft in the country