The Nigerian Navy revealed that one of its ship, Beecroft, intercepted a Ghana-registered vessel, Motor Tanker Sweet Miri which was headed to Benin Republic with about 2 million litres of stolen crude oil. This was made known in a statement by the Base Information Officer of Beecroft, Lieutenant Hussaini Ibrahim, who also disclosed the arrest of the intercepted vessel’s 13 crew members, 12 Nigerians and 1 Ghanaian.
The statement reads in part, “While briefing newsmen onboard the vessel, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral MB Hassan stated that the vessel has been a vessel of interest to the Nigerian Navy and she is being arrested on suspicion of crude oil theft. He added that, on 25 February 2024, the vessel was observed to have switched off its Automatic Identification System to avoid detection.
“The vessel was arrested 174 nautical miles of the coast of Nigeria, approximately 320 kilometres, heading to Benin Republic. This necessitated the deployment of Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) ABA to investigate the vessel. Subsequently, she was found carrying products suspected to be crude oil.
“Thereafter, NNS SOKOTO was deployed to double up the search and interdict the vessel. On arrival, it was discovered that she was carrying about 2 million litres of suspected product without approval.”
According to the statement, other relevant agencies have been invited to conduct independent investigations, and especially appreciated the efforts of the Department of State Services (DSS) for assisting the Nigerian Navy to investigate crude oil theft.