Nigerian Navy personnel have intercepted a marine tanker codenamed MT Marina for suspected illegal bunkering of automotive gas oil (AGO).
According to the Nigerian Navy, the vessel was laden with 100 metric tons (MT) of suspected illegal refined AGO at the time of the arrest on April 28, 2016.
MT Marina which was arrested by the Nigerian Navy ship Andoni off River Sombreiro during a routine patrol of the area. It was however discovered that the vessel had a processing approval for 200 MT as a cover up of her illegal activities.
In a related incident, a naval patrol team deployed by NNS Delta arrested 13 persons suspected to be engaged in illegal oil bunkering, crude oil theft and piracy. While 12 suspects were picked up at Forcados River, one suspect was arrested after some sea pirates engaged the naval patrol team in a shootout at Ndolo community in Ekeremo Local Government Area of Bayelsa state.
The 12 suspects earlier arrested on April 23, 2016 were picked up when the patrol team intercepted two boats laden with about 150MT of substance suspected to be illegal refined AGO.