August 24, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Navy has set ablaze an Oil vessel, ‘MV Cecilia’ with about 350,000 litres of stolen Automated Gas Oil (AGO) also known as diesel, in Woji, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship, Pathfinder, Port Harcourt, had on Wednesday, August 16, intercepted the vessel. Three suspects were also arrested.
Commander of Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral Olusegun Ferrera, who confirmed the incident, said the vessel had been inactive for two years but was used as a storage tank for illegally refined products.
He said, “The water tanks have been converted as a storage tank for these illegal products and the vessel has not been to sea for the past two years.”
Ferrera was represented by the maritime component commander of the Joint Task Force for Operation Delta Safe, South-South, Navy Commodore Adedokun Siyanbade.
Before it was set ablaze, two Naval gunboats manned with personnel had escorted the impounded vessel alongside a tug boat.
They pushed the vessel to a safe location in the sea where it gradually convulsed into flame. The process is reported to have lasted for two hours.
