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Jasper Ako, the proprietor of the MV Cecelia vessel that was arrested by the Navy in Rivers state over the transportation of illegally refined diesel, has questioned the Navy on the authority it has to destroy the vessel.
In response to him, he has no alternative however to take Nigeria and the Navy to courtroom, that is in line with a report from Channels Tv.
Final week, the MV Cecelia made headlines because it was reportedly found carrying an astounding 350,000 litres of illicitly refined automotive gasoline oil, generally often known as diesel.
The vessel’s location on the time of arrest was the Trans Woji space of Port Harcourt, located in Rivers State.
The Nigerian Navy apprehended the vessel and has expressed its dedication to not solely convey the proprietor to justice but in addition to carry all these complicit on this illegal act accountable.
Commodore Adedokun Siyanbade, the distinguished Commander of the Maritime Element of Operation Delta State (OPDS), in an interview with Channels Tv, revealed that the Navy had acted upon credible intelligence indicating ongoing unlawful actions inside the designated area.
He mentioned:
- “The operation was performed and that operation led to the arrest of MV Cecelia, a vessel that must be a service boat however has been transformed to a storage tank for illegally refined merchandise suspected to be AGO (diesel).
- “The vessel has not been to sea for the previous two years, it was anticipated to be beneath upkeep however is getting used for a distinct goal whereby folks from the unlawful refinery aspect convey their merchandise to this place to be saved whereby different folks come right here to buy the merchandise.”
Extra Insights
Augustine Ojekudo who’s the authorized counsel to Jasper Ako, the vessel proprietor mentioned that the vessel proprietor has communicated to all of the companies that he was not complicit within the legal act, if any. He mentioned:
- “When the proprietor of the vessel shouldn’t be concerned in any criminality, why ought to the proprietor lose his much-prized vessel which is working into billions of naira? The place is the order of the Court docket authorizing the destruction of the vessel? How a lot investigation has been completed by the Naval authorities to justify the destruction of the vessel?”
What you need to know
In response to the most recent information from the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted, between August 12 and 18, 45 illicit refineries working within the Niger Delta had been unveiled, exposing the magnitude of those unauthorized operations.
Additionally, there have been 20 cases of unauthorized connections, 8 breaches of vessel AIS rules, and 6 instances of oil spills, together with the identification of 20 wood boats repurposed for transporting stolen crude.
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