By Oyintari Ben
Eight suspected members of a crude oil syndicate were ambushed and detained by employees of Tantita Security Services Limited, (TSSL) a company owned by former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, while they were pumping crude oil into the improvised 87-meter-long ocean-going vessel MT Deino from a Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) pipeline in Delta State.
Captain Temple Manasseh of Bayelsa State and seven other suspects had just pumped 605 cubic meters of crude oil into the vessel with 12 compartments from an unauthorized connection to a CNL crude pipeline between the Abiteye community and Escravos in the Warri South Local Government Area when Tantita operatives and Nigerian security officials swooped on them.
When it was apprehended in the Escravos River, the vessel’s IMO identification number was 7210526.
The owners of the ship, according to information obtained by sources, have not made themselves known, but they did offer a Tantita official a payoff of N25 million in exchange for releasing the ship, which he turned down.
The eight suspects—including the captain—were turned over to the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta and are currently chilling out at the 3 Battalion, Nigerian Army, in Effurun, close to Warri.
Captain Warren Enisuoh, a Marine Intelligence Consultant for Tantita Security Services Limited, who provided insight into the operation, however, stated that the vessel was 87 meters long and had 12 cargo compartments. They managed to transform it into an ocean vessel even though it was originally a river boat.
“In this very operation, we have arrested seven persons and they are all Nigerians by their names. They did not go to the Chevron Terminal to load. Instead, they went illegally into the creek (bush), where they criminally connected their hoses to the major line and started pumping the crude from the pipeline into the vessel. They were transporting the crude to Ghana’s Tema Port.
“We were aware of it, but we chose not to intervene. They arrived that day at 6 o’clock, and they slowly began operating from a Chevron-operated line that connects Abiteye and Escravos. Prior to Tantita moving in to capture them and the vessel, they continued pumping. Tantita handed the ship over to the JTF,” the Marine Consultant explained.
