13 December 2012, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, is detaining a service cargo vessel, MV Arti, allegedly carrying over 80,000 litres of automotive gas oil, also known as diesel, suspected to have been cooked, rather than refined.
Commander, Maritime Guard Command, Navy Capt. Promise Dappa, disclosed this in Lagos, Wednesday, assuring that the issue of oil theft would soon become a thing of the past in the country.
According to him, the ship was arrested at the Bakare Jetty, Kirikiri water front in Apapa, with two crew members.
The crew members were supervising the discharge of the diesel into trucks, for onward movement to petrol stations, when they were arrested.
“Other crew members and operators of the receiving trucks had disappeared from the loading point on sighting officers of the Maritime Guard command,” Captain Dappa said.
