Oil Theft: Nigerian Navy Tracks Down Owners of Abandoned Vessels

The Nigerian Navy (NN) has vowed to track down, detain, and prosecute evading owners of abandoned seagoing vessels who have been detained for alleged illegal oil bunkering activities.
This is a result of the Navy’s insistence that an oil theft scheme involved the “MV Cecelia,” a vessel that its agents recently set on fire in Rivers State.
This occurred more than 48 hours after Chief Jasper Ako, the owner of the ship (MV Cecelia) and the managing director of the Port Harcourt-based oil and gas company Soljas Limited, denied being involved in any illegal oil transactions.
Contrary to the claims of the Niger Navy Ship Pathfinder, whose crew destroyed the vessel, Chief Ako stated last Friday that the boat is not a work boat but an aluminium high-speed crew facility as clearly stated in the NIMASA document while briefing newsmen through his attorney, Augustine Okekudo, in Port Harcourt.
He added that the boat’s capacity is actually 45,000 litres, not the Navy’s claimed 350,000. He called it appalling that the Navy destroyed the boat a week after its seizure without conducting an inquiry.
“The boat is in the Nigerian Navy Memorandum of Understanding as a security boat. The Navy even came to inspect and clear the boat two months ago,” he stated.
However, the Navy clarified that despite the vessel sitting idle for two years, it was still being utilised as a storage tank for illegally produced materials, calling the owner’s accusations false.
The information was provided to journalists in a statement headlined “Unfounded allegation by the alleged owner of merchant vessel Cecelia” and signed by AO Ayo-Vaughan, Director of Information, Nigerian Navy.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Nigerian Navy and Operation Delts Safe has been drawn to the spurious and baseless allegations by the alleged owner of Merchant Vessel MV Cecelia who recently claimed that their vessel was seized and burnt by the NN.
“The vessel was arrested on 15 August 2023 with products suspected to be illegally refined Automated Gas Oil (Diesel) at Meco Jetty in Port Harcourt, Rivers State following an operation by the Naval Component of OPDS.
“However, the owners of the vessel remained at large. Subsequently, the sample of the products onboard the vessel was taken for laboratory analysis and it was discovered to be illicit AGO.
“Pertinently, the owners of the vessel were at large and did not present themselves to witness the test in line with extant procedure.”
The NN representative claimed that the accused owner’s actions are not shocking because “it has been the practise among oil thieves.”
He continued by saying, “In some cases where vessels involved in oil theft are arrested, the owners abscond leaving the NN to bear the cost of keeping and sustaining the vessels.
“These abandoned vessels have been the major reason why the International Maritime Organization in the past, declared the nation’s ports/waterways as the most unsafe ports in the region.
“The public is to note that MV Cecelia has not been operational and has been alongside for about two years. At the time of the arrest, the vessel was laden with about 250,000 litres of illicit AGO.
“Accordingly, the NN and OPDS will not be hindered by the usual antics of the oil thieves. These sometimes include the owners claiming ignorance of the use of their vessels for illegalities.
“The NN and OPDS remain law abiding and will continue to carry out their statutory roles of fighting oil theft including the destruction of platforms used to carry out the illegalities in line with extant Presidential directives
“The general public should be informed that the NN and OPDS are on the lookout to arrest the criminals who conduct these crimes and abandon their vessels.”

Source: Allnews Nigeria

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