Outgoing Flag Officer Commanding FOC, Eastern Naval Command ENC, Rear Admiral Sanusi Ibrahim has confirmed the arrest of a vessel, MT PREYOR 1 bearing 2,458,350 litres of crude oil and additional 10,000 litres of AGO in her service tanks.
Ibrahim informed that the vessel did not have requisite approval, stating that the arrest was done in January 2022.
He said the Command earlier arrested 27 other ships engaged in illegal bunkering, crude oil theft and other maritime illegalities in the maritime areas under his jurisdiction.
The Navy Commander disclosed this in Calabar on Friday as he was handing over to a new Commander of ENC, Rear Admiral Abdullahi Dewu.
He said his command was able to dismantle 175 illegal refineries in eleven months, stressing that the feat followed the determined efforts of officers to reduce incidents of piracy and other forms of maritime illegalities.
He said the ENC sustained patrols of its maritime Area of Responsibility (AOR), as well as undertook clearance and swamp buggy operations in the backwaters.
“Under my watch, the command apprehended criminals who were in possession of 35,384,718 Metric Tonnes of illegally refined automotive gas oil (AGO). This product was evacuated. Pirates and kidnappers’ hideouts were destroyed by our men.
“Our operations resulted in a considerable reduction of piracy in Nigeria’s maritime domain, as well as led to the arrest of 27 vessels engaged in illegal bunkering, crude oil theft and other maritime illegalities.
“We successfully deactivated 175 illegal refining sites. We evacuated 35,384,718 Metric Tonnes of illegally refined AGO and destroyed several pirates as well as kidnappers’ send”.
