Military seizes ship with 5,000 tonnes of stolen oil

The military said on Monday it had seized a ship laden with 5,000 tonnes of stolen oil and 30 barges amid rising cases of crude theft in the Niger Delta, one of the worlds main oil producing regions, AFP reported.The spokesman of the Joint Task Force deployed in the Niger Delta, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, said in a statement that they impounded a vessel engaged in the lifting of illegally refined petroleum products in Bayelsa State on Friday.He said the task force arrested the two-member crew on the Nigerian-flagged ship.In a separate raid conducted at the weekend along the Imo River, which lies on the border of nearby Rivers and Abia states, the military reported seizing 30 barges with unspecified quantities of crude and illegally refined oil.The JTF has discovered that there is a booming trade in the stolen crude oil and illegally refined petroleum products along Imo River, which recently caused a multi-national oil company to suspend production in the area, Antigha, said.Stolen crude and illegally refined petroleum products are regularly exported and sold on the lucrative black market.Thieves often sabotage pipelines in order to gain access to crude, resulting in oil spills.The military said it had arrested dozens of suspected oil thieves in recent months and destroyed some 2,000 illegal make-shift refineries.Seven Nigerians and two Ghanaians were early in October sentenced to 10 years on each of nine charges filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for illegal dealing in petroleum products.
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