Spirited efforts to seize three merchant vessels by sea pirates have been systematically averted by the Nigerian Navy in Bayelsa State.
The three vessels, MV MOXON, MT AFRICAN BEAUTY and MT MADON, were on target by the pirates when the Navy successfully dislodged them on the high sea, according to a press statement from the director of Navy Information, Commodore Christian Ezekobe, on Tuesday, May 10, 2016.
The vessels were attacked around Brass waterways in Bayelsa State on the 3rd and 4th of May 2016.
Ezekobe revealed that the criminals made spirited effort to seize the vessels but that the timely response of the special protective team deployed by the Nigerian Navy successfully dislodged the pirates who fled to evade arrest.
In a related development, the naval patrol team deployed by NNS PATHFINDER on 4 May 2016 discovered and destroyed 2 active illegal crude oil refineries located at NAFCON creek.
The refineries had 7 storage tanks containing about 10,000 litres of stolen crude oil and 20,000 litres of illegally refined AGO.
Patrol team also destroyed a warehouse used by the criminals to hide illegally refined products. The massive warehouse located at Ikpokiri community in Rivers State had GP tanks containing suspected illegally refined AGO.
The statement added that: “Nigerian Navy is warning owners of warehouses in the Niger Delta area to avoid the temptation of leasing out their properties to the criminals.
“The service will not be held responsible for damages done to the properties in the course of the current clampdown on crude oil theft, vandalism and piracy in the area.”
