A combined team of the Army, Navy and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety officials has smashed a 13-man syndicate, which specialised in hijacking oil vessels.
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| Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke |
Our men investigations on Thursday showed that the suspects, whose leader was identified simply as Thomas, were arrested at 1 am on Sept. 13 at Igbokoda, Ondo State.
The suspects, who were said to have been moved to the 4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Benin, were said to have named some top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as their sponsors.
Other sponsors named by the pirates were two prominent traditional rulers in the South, one in the North and some oil marketers.
The suspects were arrested at their training camp in Igbokoda.
They were rounded up while undergoing training in shooting and martial art in the camp.
It was gathered that the suspects confessed that their sponsors gave them money as well as arms and ammunition.
Describing the mode of operation of the syndicate, a security source said that they emptied fuel from hijacked vessels into tank farms owned by some marketers and sold it through their filling stations.
He said, “The items recovered from them are one small machine gun, three ML rifles, one axe, 10 AK magazines, three ML magazines, 574 rounds of 7.6mm live ammunition, 66 rounds of 7.62mm, 44 live cartridges, three walkie-talkies and three AK-47 rifles.”
Members of the syndicate were said to have been recruited from Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic.
It was gathered that the pirates were said to have killed 27 people, including foreigners, in the last one year. The security source said that the syndicate attacked a vessel, MC Rosatonassos, in June and stole $200,000.
Investigations showed that the suspects would be moved to Ondo State next week.
It was learnt that security agents were on the trail of the indicted traditional rulers, a prince, some NNPC officials and marketers.
The security agents, investigations showed, had contacted a telecommunication firm, with the aim of getting the record of the communication between the gang leader and one of the traditional rulers.
The security source said, “Those investigating the matter have already contacted a telecommunication firm.
“We will get a record of the conversation between one of the traditional rulers and the gang leader. There is also a document containing the handwriting of the suspects we are looking for. As soon as we get enough evidence, we will make further arrests.”
We, however, gathered that the security agents were under pressure to release the suspects after they were arrested.
It was learnt that the pressure was coming from top personalities in government, as well as marketers and the NNPC.
The security agents were alleged to have been offered N265m to ensure that the suspects were released.
Investigations, however, showed that the security agents rejected the offer.
When contacted, the Director of Naval Information, Navy Commodore Kabir Aliyu, confirmed the arrest of the suspects.
He confirmed that the 13 suspects had been moved to the 4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Benin.
Aliyu added that some arms and ammunition were recovered from the gang, stressing that investigations were ongoing.
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