Nigerian Navy has said it arrested 13 suspected crude oil thieves on board Motor Tanker Sweet Miri off the coast of Nigerian waters onwards Republic of Benin.
This was made known by the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Adm. Mohammed Hassan, while speaking with newsmen on Saturday.
He explained that the motor tanker was filled with almost two million litres of products suspected to be crude oil and had no naval approval onboard.
The FOC, who doubled as the Commander, Joint Task Force Operation Awase, South West, disclosed that the navy has launched thorough investigations into the matter to ensure that kingpins of crude oil theft were apprehended and prosecuted.
Hassan noted that the launch of Operation Delta Sanity by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla had further spurred naval men towards command crude oil theft with more vigour.
The FOC said, “On February 15, our radar detected a dark ship, as far as 174 Nautical Miles off the coast of Nigeria heading westward towards Republic of Benin.
“We dispatched Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Aba to go and investigate the contact; we subsequently followed the investigation by dispatching NNS Sokoto to double-up the search and interdiction.
“MT Sweet Miri, is a vessel that has been on the watch list of the Nigerian Navy for some time and has been arrested for suspicion of crude oil theft.”
