JTF Seizes 1,000 Tonnes of Crude Oil in Rivers

The Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta said Wednesday  that it arrested a vessel laden with 1,000 tonnes of crude oil off the coast of Bonny Island in Rivers State.  

It paraded nine suspected crew members, all of them Nigerians, before journalists in Bonny. The Two Brigade Army spokesman, Maj. Michael Etete, said the Nigerian-registered vessel, MT Atlantic Star, was arrested while illegally tapping crude oil from a pipeline.

He said the arrests, by troops of Sector Two in Bonny, followed a military intelligence report on December 29.
“Further investigation is ongoing and the suspects will be handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps for prosecution,” he said.

He restated JTF’s commitment towards stamping out oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and other criminal activities within its area of responsibility in line with its mandate.
The captain of the vessel, Mr. Rauf Rasak, told reporters that the vessel was hijacked by six unknown gunmen who threatened to kill the crew members if he refused to cooperate with their illicit directives.

Rasak further claimed that the gunmen immediately took over navigation of the vessel, anchored it in Bonny and thereafter loaded the vessel with the illegal crude oil.

“While they were loading the vessel with the crude oil, men of the JTF approached us and the gunmen fled the scene,” he said.
The captain claimed that the crew was innocent of the charges being brought against them by the JTF.