The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT has arrested a wooden “Cotonou” boat at Akaraba sea side area of Atlas Cove, Lagos laden with 1,400 jerry cans of 25 litres of suspected PMS, 27 empty drums and five 75HP outboard engines.
The estimated suspected stolen PMS is 35,000 litres valued at about Five Million and Seventy Five Thousand Naira (N5,075,000) only while the Cotonou boat and the outboard engines are valued at about Fifteen Million Naira (N15,000,000) only.
The total sum of the arrested boat with its contents is Twenty Million and Seventy Five Thousand Naira (N20,075,000) only. It is to be noted that the Atlas Cove is central to reception and distribution of refined petroleum products to other NNPC depots at Mosimi, Ore, Ibadan and Shagamu areas. Consequently, the facility has become very attractive to vandals, petroleum thieves and pirates among others.
This arrest by the Base represents a major achievement of Nigerian Navy’s constitutional mandate and a set back to the logistics infrastructure of maritime criminals.
Speaking on behalf of the Commander NNS BEECROFT, Rear Admiral Okon Eyo and in line with the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas’s zero tolerance of acts of illegalities in the nation’s maritime space, Captain Hassan Dogara stated that the Base will continue to dominate the nation’s water ways in order to prevent the theft of Nigeria’s common wealth.
