13 ships carrying stolen crude oil intercepted, 567 suspects arrested in Delta in 2021—JTF

Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Delta said it intercepted 13 ships loaded with stolen crude oil  and arrested 567 suspected oil thieves in the South-South in 2021. Rear Admiral Aminu Hassan, the JTF commander, said this at a press conference on Friday in Yenogoa. Hassan said that following a new approach taken by the JTF, nine barges were seized during the year.

It also said that 1,423 illegal refining sites with more than 4,929 storage facilities were destroyed in the period under review. The commander said 536 large wooden vessels loaded with illegally refined products and crude oil and 137 trucks used to transport illegally refined products were seized. Hassan also said that 40 million litres of crude oil and 67 million litres of illegally refined products, mainly diesel, were recovered from oil thieves and pipeline vandals. He said the JTF raided and destroyed 51 militant / pirate camps, while 153 assorted weapons and ammunition of various calibers were recovered. The commander explained that while the Nigerian Navy was tackling piracy on the high seas within Nigerian territorial waters, the JTF did the same in the backwaters.

He said development had dramatically reduced maritime crime in 2021. Citing the International Maritime Bureau, he said piracy cases fell from 46 recorded in October 2020 to 28 in October 2021, adding that only four cases were related to Nigeria. The commander said that the JTF used a non-kinetic conflict resolution method that led to the resolution of 54 cases between oil companies and their host communities. Hassan attributed the feat accomplished by the JTF in the period to the support provided by the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Lucky Irabor and other service chiefs.