The officers of Tantita Security Services Limited, the private company in the forefront in the fight against oil theft, have again arrested another vessel for alleged theft of the nation’s crude oil in Bayelsa State.

The Moldovan Sea Cargo, MT Harbor Spirit, was ladened with over 80,000 litres of crude oil with 12 Nigerian crew when it was taken by the operatives of the security outfit.

The Executive Director of Operations and Technical, TSSL, Copt. Warredi Enisuoh, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Oporoza, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

Enisuoh said the vessel was arrested with the collaborative efforts of Tantita operatives and the military, adding that the vessel has been taken to Tantita’s operational base at Oporoza for further investigation.

“The vessel is currently anchored at Tantita facility at Oporoza, headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State,” he said.

Enisouh, who thanked the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, for the collaborative efforts between Tantita and the military, said: “The Chief of Defence Staff in his very strict instructions on dealing with the scourge of crude oil theft said we are working in synergy with all available forces, the Nigerian army, the Nigerian Navy, Police, NSCDC, the DSS to bring to the barest minimum, if not completely eliminate the situation.

CDS lauds Tantita, security agencies for combatting oil theft

“And what we can see here today is a result of that instruction and order which was also heavily supported by the Chief of Naval Staff, who will immediately put his men into the ship.

“This ship was being sought out by law enforcement agents for a while and not today, not yesterday. Quite a while back, it is not a Nigerian-registered ship. As a matter of fact, she’s a Moldovan ship. However, the crew is Nigerian.

“The Inspector General of Police has set up a special team to investigate the ship. The whole idea is to drill down to the sponsors of the ship. Those who have been using the ship to perpetrate crimes against the country.

“Now, this ship was monitored specifically by the Nigerian Navy as well as ourselves too. And it came close a lot for apprehension on this particular day, just about two days ago, precisely in the early hours of Sunday.

“Our detection systems found it nosing around Sagana oil fields Bayelsa and what had happened there was that we swung into action and discovered that they made a fast one on the oil platforms there. And let me put on record that they cooperated and we were able to apprehend and arrest them.

“So we have taken soundings of the contents but estimate is that it has got about 80,000 litres and not that we could not have allowed it to take more, but that is not the objective. The objective is to prevent them from doing that so what they do is they show their motive and intention.

“So we got about 12 or 13 thereabout, we’ve got a couple of others who give them support from the community as well when we swooped on them at about 1 a.m. on Sunday.”

The Capt of MT Harbor Spirit, Captain Joseph Shittu, further revealed that he was sent to load crude from a vessel by his employers from Lagos.

“We were apprehended at the loading point in Sagana by the Tantita boys and the civil defence because even the operation we were not happy with the operation. We were trying to find our way to go down before they came,” Shittu said.

The Star