By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
#TrackNigeria: The Nigerian Navy has said that it discovered a metal Barge MV JOSH 1 as well as a wooden boat drifting along Bolo Creek and recovered same on 29 January 2019.
According to a statement by the Director of Naval Information, Commodore Suleman Dahun made available to Newsdiaryonline, “the barge and wooden boat were laden with an estimated 900,000 litres of a substance suspected to be stolen crude oil and 2,500 litres of product suspected to be illegally refined AGO.
“There were no suspects on board the vessels at the time of the recovery,” the statement read.
The Navy stated that in accordance with Part 6 Paragraph 17 of the Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures on Arrest, Detention and Prosecution (HSOP-AD&P) of Vessels and Persons, it would seek an order of forfeiture if owners of the vessels fail to claim them within one year.
“In the event of failure to reclaim seized and detained vessels by its owner for a period of 12 months, the Agency in Custody of the seized items as the case maybe, shall reserve the power to obtain an order of forfeiture and disposal from a court of competent jurisdiction.”
The statement added that the Nigerian Navy would keep the Barge and wooden boat in its custody for a period of 6 months effective from the day of recovery.
“At the expiration of the 6 months period, it will hand over the vessels to EFCC to obtain forfeiture order in accordance with the law in the absence of any claim of its ownership.
“Consequently, owners of the vessels are advised to come forward and reclaim ownership of the vessels, failing which it will be handed over to the EFCC to obtain forfeiture order,” it further stated.
