The Air Force has destroyed barges containing stolen oil products at Adokiakiri community in Niger Delta.
Spokesman Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said the illegal oil barges and storage facilities were spotted by NAF EC-135 Helicopter during an armed reconnaissance mission on Sunday.
He said the barges were destroyed.
The director said NAF remained resolute in making oil theft and bunkering unprofitable.
• Arrests two suspects
The Central Naval Command in the Niger Delta region has intercepted a barge and five wooden boats loaded with 600,000 metric tons of illegally refined crude oil.
It was gathered the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), Soroh, conducted the operation that led to the arrest of the barge christened, Merchant Vessel (MV) CHUZY1, at Beama community, Nembe Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
The Commander, NNS Soroh, Commodore Habib Usman, who confirmed the operation yesterday, said the barge and the boats were laden with a product suspected to be Automated Gas Oil (AGO).
He said two suspects identified as Chibueze Patrick and one Toyin were also apprehended during the raid.
Soroh said: “The Navy will continue to uphold the tenets of zero tolerance against crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, illegal oil bunkering and other sundry crimes in the Niger Delta Region.”
He said the wooden boats were allegedly used to convey the product from the illegal refining point to the barge for loading.
He added: “The wooden boats were suspected to be used to convey the illegally refined Automated Gas Oil from the refining points to the barge for loading.
“As of the time of the arrest one of the boats had finished trans-loading its product into the barge.
“Consequently, the personnel of Forward Operating Base FORMOSO with own gunboats and tug boat towed the barge to own jetty for further investigation.
“However, the wooden boats were destroyed. Also the two suspects are in custody for preliminary investigation and prosecution”.
As part of the ongoing war against economic sabotage in the Niger Delta region, the Central Naval Command, Nigerian Navy, has intercepted a barge and five wooden boats loaded with 600,000 metric tons of illegally refined crude oil.
It was gathered that the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), Soroh, conducted the operation that led to the arrest of the barge christened, Merchant Vessel (MV) CHUZY1, at Beama community, Nembe Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
The Commander, NNS Soroh, Commodore Habib Usman, who confirmed the operation yesterday, said the barge and the boats were laden with a product suspected to be Automated Gas Oil (AGO).
He said two suspects, identified as Chibueze Patrick and one Toyin, were also apprehended in connection with the product.
He said: “The Navy will continue to uphold the tenets of zero tolerance against crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, illegal oil bunkering and other sundry crimes in the Niger Delta region. This is in line with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas’s strategic directive.”
He said the wooden boats were allegedly used to convey the product from the illegal refining point to the barge for loading.
“The wooden boats were suspected to be used to convey the illegally refined Automated Gas Oil from the refining points to the barge for loading.
“As of the time of the arrest, one of the boats had finished trans-loading its product into the barge.
“Consequently, the personnel of Forward Operating Base FORMOSO, with own gunboats and tug boat, towed the barge to own jetty for further investigation.
“However, the wooden boats were destroyed. Also, the two suspects are in custody for preliminary investigation and prosecution.”
Speaking on the development, the Flag Officer Commanding, CNC, Rear Admiral Mohammed Garba, said there would no longer be any hiding place for crude oil thieves and vandals in the region.
The Abia State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has paraded four men and a woman suspected to have stolen over 33,000 litres of blue diesel.
Parading the suspects at their Isiala Ngwa Junction Exhibit office, the state commandant of the corps, Dr Benito Eze said that the suspects were intercepted following security tip-off.
Eze said that the four men were arrested with a trailer belonging to Chisco, a popular transport company which was loaded with empty crates of Heineken beer, while 75 drums of blue diesel were hidden inside.
He said that the suspects concealed the drums of blue diesel with over 40 creates of empty Heineken beer which the driver was supposed to drop at Enugu plant of the Nigeria Brewery.
The Abia NSCDC boss said that the truck with registration number EKY-847-XB is being investigated to find out if the owners of the truck are involved in the illegal trade, Eze said, “But it has been proved that the truck driver and the owner of the stolen petroleum products are aware of the illegal trade and they will be taken to court for prosecution after investigation”.
The command also paraded a woman who gave her name as Mrs Chioma Okezie who was arrested with a Toyota Sienna car with registration number YAB-699-AE filled with petroleum product known as blue diesel.
The commandant said that the suspect concealed the product in cellophane bags inside the Toyota Sienna Space-wagon car, adding that the product was allegedly loaded at Port Harcourt.
In an interview, Mrs Okezie a mother of four and a widow said that she works with Abia State Environmental Protection Agency [ASEPA] but went into the business with her friend Joy who is now on the run.
Okezie said that she has not been paid for several months by the state government, “So when my friend came and told me that I could make money to take care of my children, I decided to go for it”.
In his own reaction Michael Okechukwu from Ikwo in Ebonyi state the alleged owner of the product in the truck said that he was a taxi driver but that his cab was stolen and since then has been jobless.
Okechukwu said that his friend told him to come and carry the product from Abonema wharf in Port Harcourt since he was not doing anything, “I am not aware that it is an illegal business and I was to be paid after delivering the goods”.
“We want to ban European refineries from buying un-certificated oil. 400, 000 barrels a day is a huge loss. We need to get traceability of oil to avoid theft. The oil companies are involved in this and everybody is making big money.
The bunkering tankers are better equipped than the Nigerian Navy, This is a huge international organised crime. We did it with diamond; we can also do it with oil.”
Mitchell Rivasi (Acting Co- President ACP- EU) on the need for Europe to ban stolen oil from Nigeria.