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Tag: Ibrahim Dewu

  • Nigerian Navy destroys over 134 illegal refineries in Delta

    The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta said it has destroyed more than 134 illegal refining sites in Delta state in the last one and a half weeks.

    The Commander of the NNS Delta, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, who disclosed this to journalists during one of the operations in Jibo community, Warri South-West council area of the state on Saturday, also warned oil thieves and operators of illegal refineries to desist and find legitimate means of livelihoods or face the wrath of the law.

    Dewu, who was represented by the Executive Officer (XO) of the NNS Delta, Navy Captain Adeyemi Adewuyi, condemned the choice of some people in the Niger Delta to live on crime and continue to waste resources on ventures that will continuously be tracked and pulled down by government, pointing out the amount of financial resources committed to the illegal activities and their rippling effect on the nation’s economy.

    According to him, the illegal refining sites in Jibo community alone covered a stretch of more than four kilometers of swamp area, adding that the operators had set up more than 82 units of illegal refineries on the massive space of land.

    “First I’ll like to inform you that we are in Jibo community in Warri South-West council area of Delta state to carry out the destruction of illegal refineries with the use of swamp buggies. Currently we are employing two swamp buggies simultaneously to destroy the illegal refinery sites in this community.

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    “This illegal refining site is stretched about four kilometres, approximately. We have been able to trek the distance, having to wear rain boots because of the fact that it is swampy. Within that stretch, we have destroyed 82 illegal refinery units, including more than 32 dug pits in which they store stolen crude oil.

    “Although no arrest has been made, we are still relying on our informants to get some of the operators of the illegal refineries arrested. In the past, we have made several arrests and such culprits had been handed over to prosecuting agencies.

    “I will also like to intimate you that we started this operation from the Benin River, where we spent about five days, destroying illegal refineries. Benin River is in Warri North council area of the state and there we destroyed about 52 illegal refining sites, before we moved here and this is our fourth day here. We hope we should be able to round this operation off today.

    “My advice to oil thieves and the operators of this illegal refineries is to desist from it and look for legitimate businesses that they can engage in, instead of this economic sabotage that they are engaging in”, Dewu warned.

  • Court bonds make fight against oil theft difficult – Nigerian Navy

    The Nigerian Navy has lamented the negative effect of unbridled granting of court bonds to offending oil vessel, noting they are impeding fight against oil theft.

    Commander of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, who spoke while handing a vessel arrested with illegal oil consignment arrested around the Escravos Bar, over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said criminals are now taking advantage of what they consider a legal loophole.

    Speaking to journalists on board of the impounded vessel, MT Skye, Dewu recalled that the vessel had been arrested by the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) in 2014, but was released on bond by a court in Port Harcourt, River state, for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to dispose off of the products.

    However, according to the navy chief, just like in some other cases, the crew of the vessel decided to execute other plans by taking the vessel out of its outlined course, take in more illegal products. It was in this process that they vessel was rearrested in the Delta waters, far from its original route.

    “This vessel; MT Skye, was arrested off Escravos Bar. The same vessel had been arrested by Operation Delta Safe in 2014, handed over to the EFCC and tried for the offence. However, the vessel was released on bond by a court in Port Harcourt. Operation Delta Safe released this vessel with about 388 metric tons of crude oil on board with a bond for DPR to sell the product and return the money into the federal government’s coffers.

    “However, this vessel was arrested with products of about 505 metric tons on board, according to the Captain of the vessel. On investigation, after the arrest, we realized that this vessel has 524 metric tons on board in seven out of the 12 compartments of the vessel. On further investigation, shockingly too, we discovered that 5 out of the 7 compartments have AGO on board.

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    “Now there are a lot of inconsistencies; the same vessel, according to the crew, was supposed to go the high seas from Brass, on their way to Port Harcourt to dispose of the product after the court case, however, we found them off Escravos and they claimed to be having machinery problems, which led them to Escravos.

    “Secondly, this vessel was released with about 388 metric tons of product, only for us to find 524 metric tons and part of it being AGO, not just the crude which was released.

    “This is one of the problems that we’ve been encountering; vessels hiding under bonds to commit illegal activities. This vessel has been arrested this month. The vessel was arrested with 9 crew members, all Nigerians. While the investigation is ongoing, we are handing over now, we’ve done our own preliminary investigation, which is to prove that the products on board had no valid approval, that’s where the navy comes in”, Dewu said.

    Speaking on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Principal Detective Superintendent, Mr. Richard Ogberagha said the Agency expects to carry out a thorough investigation on the matter.

    Ogberagha stressed that officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR were already on ground taking samples saying, “We have started already”.

    In his words, “One, to determine the substance which is found in this vessel. Two, to determine the quantity of distance also found in the vessel. Three to also to determine if they have approval to carry whatever is inside the vessel and four, prosecution of all the parties involved.”

  • Navy arrests 386,000 ltrs Crude Oil Vessel, 9 Persons in Delta.

    A vessel containing over 386,000 litres of crude oil, alongside nine suspects, has been arrested by the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), Delta.

    Commander of the Naval Base, Warri, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, disclosed this on Wednesday when the cargo, MT Nipal, with the nine persons of varying ages, was handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), near the base.

    Speaking after handing over the suspects and the vessel to the EFFC for further investigations, Commodore Dewu explained that they were arrested for illegally siphoning crude oil at the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Afremo field.

    Disclosing that the arrest was made on January 31, the commander said four out of the eight tanks of the vessel bore the product.

    He said, “MT Nipal was arrested 31 January, 2018. The vessel was arrested in SPDC Afremo Field. It had 386,000 litres of crude oil.

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    “We first carry out investigations, thereafter we hand over to security agencies which we are doing today. We have handed over to the vessel with its crew, about nine Nigerians on board, to the EFCC to carry out full investigations.”

    Dewu who warned that the Nigerian Navy will not relent in its efforts against illegal operations on the waterways which he described as the NNS’ responsibility, advised those who seek to go into crude business do so legally.

    “My advice to them is that they should desist from carrying out these illegal activities. If they want to go into oil business, there are proper ways they can do that. Nothing will stop us from getting them arrested because this is our work. Stay away from illegalities,” Dewu said.

    Meanwhile the EFCC, after collecting samples of the product on the vessel, has promised to carry out full findings on the nine arrested men on board MT Nipal.

    According to the Senior Detective Superintendent (SDS), EFCC Benin, Mr. Richard Ogberagha, who led a team of the commission to the naval base, “EFCC will carry out preliminary investigations to determine the evidence of the involvement of the people.”

  • Oil Theft: Navy Hands two seized vessels to EFCC in Warri

     

    Two ocean-going vessels, arrested since 2016, were on Thursday handed over to officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), by the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta in Warri.

    Explaining that the handing over was in tandem with the Nigerian laws and processes, the Commander of the NNS Delta, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, who was represented by the Executive Officer of the ship, Navy Captain Adeyemi Adewuyi, said the navy had played its part in curbing illegalities in the maritime environment by arresting the vessels.

    According to him, the vessels were intercepted and arrested within the area of responsibility of the NNS Delta in February 2016, suspected to be involved in illegal operations, adding that they were both laden with about 120 tons of liquid substance suspected to be illegally refined petroleum product.

    He said further that the Navy had carried out all the due preliminary investigations, as were required of it, and had invited the EFCC over to take over further actions, including prosecution.

    “The Nigerian Navy has been given the responsibility to arrest any ship suspected to be carrying out illegalities in the Nigerian maritime domain and these are the type of vessels being referred to and we have arrested them”.

    “The Nigerian Navy by law is not allowed to carry out prosecution of offenders because of that, we have being directed to handover the seized vessels to the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) for further investigations and possible prosecution”, Dewu said.

    The leader of the EFCC team from the Benin Zonal office, Mr. Richard Ogberaga, who received the handling over documents, reaffirmed the commitment of the commission to carry out further investigation with the aim of determining level of involvements, content of the vessels and prosecution of those found wanting in the crime.

  • Oil theft: Navy apprehends Nigerian, nine foreigners in Delta

    The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), DELTA said it has nabbed 10 suspected oil thieves onboard MT TECNE Vessel in Delta.

    The Commander of NNS Delta, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, disclosed  while parading the suspects at Focados River, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta on Wednesday.

    The suspects are one Nigerian, two Pakistanis,  three Ghanians, one Indonésian, one Béninois and  two Ukrainians.

    Dewu said that  the suspects were caught in the early hours of Tuesday while siphoning  crude oil into the vessel from Afremo A platform, a loading jacket belonging to the Shell Petroleum and Development Company (SPDC) in Forcados River.

    According to him, they had siphoned about 2000 metric tonnes of crude oil from the loading jacket before they were caught.

    “Based on intelligence report, at about 02:50am  on April 25, 2017, MT Tecne (registered in Panama), was apprehended by  NNS Delta patrol team with 10 crew onboard.

    “They are one Nigerian, two Pakistanis,  three Ghanians, one Indonésian, one Béninois and  two Ukrainians, the Nigerian among them is the Chief Officer while the Captain is a Pakistani.

    “This vessel has been around our water, what they do is that they go into the high sea during the day, they come late night and connect to the Jacket and siphon crude oil.

    “We have been trailing them for three days, this is the forth night and the vessel is fully ladened with illegal crude oil and this is what they keep doing,” he said.

    The Commander said that the feat was the outcome of the ongoing “Operation Delta Safe Operation River Sweep Two and Operation Tsare Teku” mandates of the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS).

    He said that the navy would continue to check illegalities in the nation`s maritime domain.

    He advised oil companies owning loading jackets to keep constant watch on their platforms.

    “Most of the oil companies have service boats, so they should make it a point of duty to keep watching these jacket both day and night,” he said.

    Dewu said that the suspects and the vessel would be handed over to the prosecuting agency after investigations.

    One of the suspects, a Nigerian, said he joined the TECNE company in 2016 adding that he was directed by one Mr Victor to load crude oil from the jacket.

    The captain of the Ship, said he was not aware that their action was illegal.

    “We came to load here, I don’t know it is unofficial, I don’t know it is illegal bunkering, we load at night for three days.This is my first time,” he said.