The Nigerian Navy on Sunday said that it has arrested a syndicate of 13 crew members on board a Ghanaian-owned/registered vessel known as Motor Tanker (MT) SWEET MIRI with stolen crude.
This was contained in a statement made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja by Director of Information of the Service, Rear Admiral AO Ayo-Vaughan
The statement explained that the arrest of the 13 crew members comparing One Ghanaian and 12 Nigerians was made on 25 February this year at about 174 nm (approximately 320km) off Nigeria’s coast heading towards Benin Republic.
According to it, “after the vessel was observed to have switched off her Automatic Identification System (AIS) in a bid to evade detection.
“The infraction by the vessel contravened the International Ships and Port Security Code (ISPS) and she was tagged a “Vessel of Interest” (VoI) by the NN. The NN Maritime Domain.
“The suspicious disposition of the vessel necessitated the swift deployment of Nigerian Navy Ship ABA and Nigerian Navy Ship SOKOTO to intercept the vessel. Notably, upon arrest, MT SWEET MIRI was found carrying about 2 million litres of product suspected to be crude oil without any form of approval from relevant authorities.
“in line with the directive of Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, for an in-depth and independent investigation, relevant approving/prosecuting agencies have been notified for samples collection and in order to further ascertain the culpability or otherwise of the vessel.”
It stated that this became necessary to unmask the enemies of the nation and to institute holistic and detailed investigations.
The statement assured that the service through the reinvigorated Operation DELTA SANITY would continue to collaborate with relevant maritime, security and law enforcement agencies in order to closely monitor, evaluate and interdict where infractions were suspected so as to bring economic saboteurs to book in line with relevant extant laws of the land.
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