The joint military taskforce, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS), has arrested a vessel laden with 250,000 litres of suspected illegally refined diesel in Rivers State.
The vessel, MV Cecelia Imo, was intercepted and held by personnel of the joint task force at a jetty in Gbalajam, Woji area of Port Harcourt, on August 15.
The Commander, OPDS, Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferreira, explained that the vessel with a storage capacity of 350,000 litres, had not been at sea for over two years and was converted to a storage tank for illegally refined AGO.
Ferreira, who took newsmen aboard the vessel, said the area was located based on intelligence, and assured that actions would be taken against the vessel with the arrested suspects, in line with extant operational regulations.
Represented at the briefing by the Marine Component Commander, OPDS, Commodore Adedokun Siyanbade, Ferreira said two tankers were recently arrested with over 33,000 litres of crude oil by Joint Sector III of OPDS, made up of land and marine components.
“The operation was conducted yesterday 15th of August 2023 and led to the arrest of MV Cecelia Imo, a vessel that ought to be a service boat has been converted to a storage tank for illegally refined products suspected to be AGO.
“The vessel has a capacity of 350,000 litres, even the water tank has been converted into a fuel storage tank for this illegal product and the vessel hasn’t been to sea for the past two years.
“It was expected to be under maintenance whereby illegal refiners bring their products for storage and sales.
“The vessel has been arrested and necessary procedures will be taken in line with extant regulations binding on OPDS operations.
“On this vessel, a suspect was arrested and the engineer onboard the vessel is still at large. Invariably the vessel has no captain since it has not been at sea for a long time, those on board are only the engineers and the deck hands, but we were only able to arrest the deck hand that was onboard late yesterday evening.”
