By Ayo Yusuf
The MT Tura II, (International Maritime Organization, IMO, number: 6620462) caught trying to divert 150,000 metric tons of illegal crude oil worth $86.8m has allegedly been used by a cartel to steal the nation’s oil for the past 12 years, investigations have shown.
The ocean going vessel which was arrested through the efforts of the Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL, a private pipeline surveillance company, operated by the ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, in the Niger Delta, was previously confiscated ten years earlier under similar circumstances but somehow disappeared from EFCC custody to continue its smuggling activities.
Sources confirm that MT Tura II which was arrested by TSSNL operatives on July 7, 2023, is the same as MT ALLI-RIZA BEY, which the NNS Cobra, apprehended on July 28, 2013, while transferring petroleum product suspected to be Automative Gas Oil, AGO, to some smaller boats offshore Escravos.
The Nigerian Navy had at the time handed over MV SOA, which originally applied to the NNS BEECROFT to lift AGO from Calabar to Lagos with a valid clearance until August 2013, and MT ALLI –RIZA BEY with six suspects to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on October 2, 2013, for further investigation and possible prosecution.
Against the Standing Operation Procedures, SOP, and approval granted, MV SOA was operating in Escravos while MT ALLI –RIZA BEY, now MT Tura II has been discovered ten years later in 2023 still doing its illegal business.
Further investigations has now shown how an oil cartel had used MT Tura II in the last 12 years in pilfering crude oil from Nigeria to neighboring countries.
Chief CorporateCommunications Officer, NNPC Limited, Garba Deen Muhammad, in a statement, on the renewed seizure of the infamous sea tanker, said: “Following the receipt of credible intelligence, a private security contractor engaged by the NNPC Limited, Messrs Tantita Security Services intercepted a suspicious vessel with a cargo of crude oil on board on July 7, 2023.
“The vessel, MT TURA II (IMO number: 6620462), owned by a Nigerian registered company, HOLAB MARITIME SERVICES LIMITED with registration number RC813311, was heading to Cameroun with the cargo on board when it was apprehended at an offshore location with the Captain and Crew members on board.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the crude oil cargo onboard was illegally sourced from a well jacket offshore Ondo State, Nigeria. There was no valid documentation for the Vessel or the Crude Oil Cargo onboard at the time of the arrest.
“Further investigation into the activities of the vessel at the NNPC Ltd. Command and Control Centre also revealed that the vessel has been operating in stealth mode for the last twelve (12) years. The last reported location of the vessel was Tin Can Port in July 2011.
“Details of this arrest and the outcomes of the investigations were escalated to the appropriate government authorities, upon which it was concluded to destroy the vessel to serve as a strong warning and deterrent to all those participating in such illegal activities to cease and desist.”
Commanders of Operation DELTA SAFE, South-South Operations, Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferreira, and Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Delta, Commodore Chindo Yahaya, boarded the vessel at Oporoza community, Gbaramatu clan, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, where TSSNL anchored it, after the seizure to brief reporters.
Executive Director, Technical and Operation, TSSNL, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, and NSCDC representatives were also on hand.
Rear Admiral Ferreira, who described the arrest as one of the success stories in the ongoing synergy between the military and Tantita security operative, noted: “We are here over this vessel involved in oil theft and arrested off the coast of Escravos. We had information from our partner, private security over activities of the vessel. We will continue to take on oil thieves threatening our common patrimony.”
He assured journalists that full investigation into the arrest of MT Tura II had commenced in earnest and those arrested would be further interrogated to access their role in the affair.
Outrage Over Setting Vessel Ablaze:
Rear Admiral Ferreira’s assurance of a thorough investigations made little impression on insiders familiar with how oil cabals continue to avoid been punished for their crime.
Inevitably, there was widespread outrage when suddenly heads of the nation’s security decided to set the vessel and its contents ablaze, rather than keep them as exhibits for the prosecution of the suspects.
Stakeholders wondered why a vessel which sailed from Lagos to Niger Delta to steal crude oil, and had been ferrying crude oil from Nigeria to neighboring African countries for over a decade without detection, was suddenly set ablaze after it was caught without the investigation been concluded.
Critics say burning the vessel was nothing more than an attempt at covering the tracks of the oil cabal, as it would take little for smart lawyers to get a case thrown out of court when it is heard that security officials destroyed the exhibits.
A lawyer and former president of Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. Eric Omare, who has been consistent in his condemnation of the burning of oil bunkering vessels, said the destruction of the vessel was an unlawful act.
”Obviously, the destruction of the vessel used for illegal bunkering is unlawful, injurious to the environment, and deserves condemnation. There is no justification for it and the federal government may face legal action to pay damages for the destruction of the aquatic life of the people around the place where they destroyed the vessel”, Omare argued.
Chair of the Centre of Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, CHURAC, Alaowei Cleric, who complained when the military burnt a confiscated vessel, MT. Deima, last year, asserted; “it is condemnable; one of the reasons NNPCL has chosen to engage private companies to secure the pipelines is the environmental despoliation by the economic saboteurs. In fact, the security agents, who destroyed that vessel, have committed a grave environmental degradation.
“NNPCL and the Defence Headquarters should call the military to order before they further abuse the environment with impunity. We will not hesitate to take remedial action against NNPCL and the security agencies should there be any repeat of this grievous act.
Destruction of proceeds of crime may sabotage Tompolo’s efforts in ridding the Niger Delta region of oil theft. NNPCL and the military hierarchy should, therefore, caution the security agents guiding the nation’s oil facilities in the region,” he said.
Multiple stakeholders have advised President Bola Tinubu and the Security Chiefs to probe the re-emergence of MT ALLI –RIZA BEY arrested in 2013 as MT Tura II in 2023, and fish out those behind its latest escapade, which they could have concealed were it not for the vigilance of Tompolo’s boys.
Officials were at pains to explain the reason behind the destruction of the vessel which has been operating in stealth mode for the last twelve (12) years and was last reported seen at Tin Can Port in July 2011.
According to Mr. Muhammad, “Details of this arrest and the outcomes of the investigations were escalated to the appropriate government authorities, upon which it was concluded to destroy the vessel to serve as a strong warning and deterrent to all those participating in such illegal activities to cease and desist.”
He further explained that, “destroying vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil is of paramount importance as a strong deterrent. The illegal trade of stolen crude oil not only inflicts significant economic losses on Nigeria and legitimate stakeholders in the oil industry, but also perpetuates a cycle of corruption, environmental devastation, and social instability.
NNPC Limited assures Nigerians that we will sustain the momentum in the war against crude oil theft until it is brought to a halt,” He said.
The Metamorphosis Of A Vessel
Findings show that the vessel built in Turkey in 1965, with a storage capacity of 500,000 metric tons, was first registered under the name ‘Ali Riza Bey’ in Togo, and found its way to Nigerian waterways in 2012 when it resumed illegal bunkering operations conveying stolen crude to Ghana, Cameroon and Togo and offloading to other vessels.
The impounded vessel reportedly had a history of changing names after every arrest and resuming its illegal operations along the waterways, using the influence of the powerful cartel operating it within the nation’s maritime space. The operators incorporated its latest name, MT Tura II, in all the global satellite networks on shipping, but no federal government agency registered it. However, it had operated within the nation’s territorial waters for over a decade.
What is strange to insiders was how the vessel arrested and handed over to the EFCC for prosecution in 2013 found itself in the territorial waterways of the country 10 years after. How did the vessel get out and start operation once again?
Findings by our reporter show that under its false identity, MT Tura II, sponsored by some crude oil dealers, left Lagos to illegally lift crude oil in the Niger Delta without any certification. Such a trip is hardly expected to avoid the tracking systems of the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA or to evadeOperation DELTA SAFE on the standard route from Lagos to Ondo State unless some influential people intervened on its behalf.
Credible sources told our reporters that TSSNL suspected the vessel and was independently tracking it but the owners of the ship avoided Delta state, where Tompolo lives to distract the TSSNL, but the surveillance company had its operatives in Ondo state.
“When TSSNL operatives became certain of the illegal mission of the vessel it contacted other security agencies, and its operatives actually stormed the scene with NSCDC officials.
“Something surprising happened, before the TSSNL got to the vessel, the information had leaked to the captain of the vessel that Tompolo’s men were coming. They escaped with the vessel from the wellhead they were already siphoning crude oil, threw away the hose and other gadgets that would give away the crew as oil thieves.
“The Tantita operatives did not meet them at the location, but they could not be deceived either, as they followed their scent, observing on their trail the hose and other gadgets they flung away to avoid detection. They did not cover the wellhead which they professionally uncorked while running away, and within the interval, it was already polluting and causing harm to the environment.
“The oil cabal is working with professionals in the oil companies, if not, how did they know the exact oil well that had high pressure and went for it? Who opened the oil well head for them; it is not something a non-expert could open. They knew Tantita operatives were coming, and ran away from the scene. How did they know?” wondered an industry source.
