This is contained in a statement issued by Lt. Cdr Edward Yeibo on behalf of the command’s Flag Officer Commanding (FOC).

Yeibo said that two of the four suspected oil thieves were arrested while loading the barge with diesel.

He further reiterated the Navy’s Zero Tolerance to crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, illegal oil bunkering and other sundry crimes in the Niger Delta Region.

According to him, the operation, which led to the arrest of the suspects, was in line with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas’s strategic directive to the Navy.

He quoted the Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship SOROH Commodore Habib Usman, as saying that a barge and five wooden boats laden with about 600,000 metric tonnes suspected to be illegally refined Automated Gas Oil and 2 suspects were arrested.

Usman said the suspects were arrested by the Nigerian Navy Ship SOROH around Beama community in Nembe Local Government Area in the waterways within Bayelsa.

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 gunboats and tug boat towed the barge to its jetty for further investigation.

“However, the wooden boats were destroyed, the two suspects are in custody for preliminary investigation and prosecution,” Yeibo was quoted in the statement.

He added that the FOC, CNC Rear Admiral Mohammed Garba had assured that the Navy will make the sea lane of communication accessible for all legitimate users and frustrate maritime criminalites in its Area of Responsibility.

According to him, there is no hiding place for crude oil thieves as the Navy will continue to sustain patrols in the maritime environment.

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The CNC conducted the operation in collaboration with Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS), in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta.

Real Admiral Apochi Suleiman, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Central Naval Command, Yenagoa, accompanied by Commodore Sule Aliyu, NNS chief in Delta, said that the largest illegal refinery in the region was discovered during the raid.

He said that the camps, numbering about 50, as well as a boat used to convey the stolen crude for refining, were destroyed during the raid on the oil thieves.

The FOC said that no arrest was made as the oil thieves fled on sighting the ship.

He said that the oil thieves capitalized on the difficult terrain, adding that the journey to the creek took about three hours.

“There is no room for criminals in the waterways any more; we are flushing them out,” he said.

He advised youths in the area to engage in legitimate business as the Navy was poised to deal with all forms of illegal activities in the region

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The convicts were among twelve suspected oil thieves, including eight other Indians, one Ghanaian and a Nigerian arrested aboard MT Akshay by men of the Joint Task Force, Central Naval Command, Yenegoa in November, 2012 and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigation and prosecution.

After diligent prosecution, the presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi found the first and the two accused persons alongside the owner of the vessel (who is still at large) guilty on count one which borders on conspiracy and convicted them accordingly.

The other accused persons- Dharmaraj Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Nimesh Kodi Parambil, Ashraf Ali, Sanjeev Kumar, Sarbjot Singh, Arvind Kumar Bhardwaj, Gagan Kumar, Dele Johnson Olayemi and Benneth Egbegi – were discharged and acquitted on the two counts preferred against them by the EFCC.

However, the court was silent on the vessel, and it’s content.

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The vessels laden with 2.111million litres of crude oil valued at N2.4billion were seized along the waterways and creeks of Agbami Oil field and Obi Creeks in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in the state.

The CNC confirmed the development on Tuesday.

The vessels according to a statement signed by the Flag Officer Commanding, CNC, Rear Admiral Hassan Usman, were intercepted at separate points along the Ebi Creeks and Agbami Oil Field.

According to him, one of the vessels, MT Eli Tank, could not produce the necessary permit for the lifting of the crude oil.

He said the suspected oil thieves were Nigerians.

“They were unable to tender relevant documents such as Nigerian Port Authority bunkering permit and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s nomination for crude oil lifting.

“And they lack the certificate of registration with the Joint Military Task (JTF) and did not have the approval for the movement of petroleum products within the command area of responsibility,” he said.

The Navy also vowed to sustain the waterways and creek surveillance in the Niger Delta region.

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