The Nigerian Navy on Saturday said it is conducting an investigation into the activities of MV HEROIC IDUN, a supertanker, arrested by Equatorial Guinea forces over alleged crude oil theft in Nigeria.
The vessel and its crew were arrested on August 7 by the Central African country after it fled from Nigeria’s AKPO oilfield when its activities were uncovered by operatives of the Nigerian Navy.
Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, spokesperson of the Nigerian Navy, confirmed to TheCable that the vessel is on its way back to Nigeria for further investigations.
According to him, the office of the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) will determine whether or not the vessel and its crew will be prosecuted by the federal government at the end of investigation.
“Nigerian is going to investigate her conduct and if culpable necessary steps will be taken,” Ayo-Vaughan said on Saturday.
“The ship is coming back to Nigeria for investigation, the issue of prosecution is with the office of the HAGF.”
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had in September said it loses $700 million every month as a result of oil theft and vandalism at terminals.
According to the oil giant, the pipelines, particularly those around the Bonny oil export terminal, cannot be operated due to the activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandals.
Leave a Reply