The Federal Government has ordered the Nigerian Navy to attack any ship entering Nigerian territorial waters illegally to lift oil from the Niger Delta.
THISDAY gathered that the new directive will be communicated to the embassies and missions of countries resident in Nigeria by the Minister of External Affairs soon.
Informing the embassies and the missions, a senior security source said, would be an avenue to warn their nationals involved in the illegal trade.
He said the policy was borne out of the fact that oil business is an organised international trade and any person found to be involved in illegal activities might be doing so with the knowledge of his home country.
�Once we block the international link, those breaking into oil pipelines will no longer have anywhere to sell the oil they stole,� he said.
Intelligence reports, he said, showed that attacks on oil facilities by militants were done in connivance with their foreign partners to protect their business.
�The militants break into pipelines, siphon the crude into ocean going barges and sell them to ships in the high sea; where they get dollars and arms in return,� he said.
According to him, the Federal Government strategy included setting up a division of Coast Guards in the Nigerian Navy to checkmate all barges and ships involved in the business.
�Any ship that is found with even an ounce of crude that cannot be accounted for will be destroyed. No matter where it comes from,� the source said.
Meanwhile, 48 hours after the attack on the Shell Petroleum Development Company�s (SPDC) Diebu Creek Flow Station by militants, clean up activities is yet to begin.
THISDAY gathered that this maybe due to the logistics of getting men and materials to the location.
A security source, who confirmed that security operatives have taken over the area, said that it would take over 24 hours to get the materials to all the impacted areas.
He said the fear of an impending attack by militants along the waterways leading to the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State is constituting another problem.
Contacted, Shell�s spokesman, Precious Okokobo, said he had not been briefed about the clean up exercise as at yesterday evening and could not confirm when the exercise would begin.
There are fears that the oil may get to international waters by today if not quickly contained even as the stream, farmlands and drinking water of communities along the Diebu Creek have been polluted by oil sheen.
May52008