| A HIGH-flying Lebanese businessman, based outside the Niger-Delta, has been fingered as the baron of a crude oil syndicate, made up of some top security personnel, crude oil thieves and foreigners that are responsible for most of the illegal oil bunkering in the region just as a militant group in Delta State, yesterday, plainly accused top personnel of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta and Nigerian Navy of aiding oil bunkerers. Sunday Vanguard was informed at the weekend that the lid on the syndicate was blown open following a sharp disagreement among some security agents in Delta state over the sharing of about N28 million paid by the group as ‘protection fee’ to lift crude illegally from the country. The Lebanese businessman, according to our findings, always bought stolen crude from the bunkerers no matter the quantity. But the Commander of the JTF, in-charge of Delta and Bayelsa states, Brigadier-General Nanven Rimtip, acted promptly as soon as he received information and confiscated the 12,000 metric tonnes of crude oil (84,000 barrels) that the syndicate was about shipping out of the country, last week, with the 22 Filipinos on board. Contacted, yesterday, on the involvement of the Lebanese business man in crude oil theft in the region, Rimtip said, “Honestly, I am not aware”. He also said he had no information that N28 million was paid to security agents by crude oil bunkerers. He, however, said that the JTF was carrying out investigations on the latest incident in the state, adding that he ordered the seizure of the ship and the crude oil because what happened was against the laws of the country and he would want any bunkerer that paid money to any security official for “protection” to name the official or officials for appropriate disciplinary action. The militants, in a statement, signed by Commander Best Ebikiri-ama and Commander Joshua Iroko, said the JTF had made series of false publications on the recent crude oil theft involving its men, saying, “It is no longer a secret that bunkering business is carried out by high security personnel, and their foreign counterparts. Last week, a misunderstanding arose between the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Navy over the arrest of a foreign vessel, MT AKUADA, at Escarvos waterways, Delta State. From our findings, a top official of the JTF (names withheld), having collected some money from the bunkers to give a security protection to the above named vessel to come in to load and leave, refused to share the money with the Navy”. |
Nov232008