Two Britons and 10 Nigerians have been
arrested on charges of trying to bribe a
military officer to facilitate oil theft, the
military said on Friday.
Major-General E.J. Atewe, commander of the
mixed military and police Joint Task Force
(JTF) for the oil-producing Niger Delta
region, said two of the bunkerers, both
Nigerian, had gone to an officer to request
clearance to move the crude oil.
They had openly admitted their plan was to
hack into a pipeline and connect a hose that
would siphon crude out of it onto a waiting
boat, and offered him $6,500 to provide a
gunboat to protect them on the way out.
“The suspects were immediately arrested
for attempting to bribe the brigade
commander for economic sabotage,” Atewe
said in a statement, and a follow-up
operation had led to the arrest of two
Britons and another eight Nigerians.
Oil theft by armed gangs is rampant in
Nigeria, with estimates ranging from
100,000 barrels to 250,000 barrels a day
lost to so-called “bunkerers”.
File photo: some arrested oil
thieves
File photo: some arrested oil thieves
Stories of collusion with the security forces
are common and the sheer scale of oil theft
in Nigeria would not be possible without
systematic collusion by various security
agencies, security sources say.
Loss of output from theft and outages
caused by sabotaging pipelines has cost the
treasury – which relies on oil for about 80
percent of revenues – billions of dollars.
Critics, however, say theft is exaggerated to
cover up embezzlement of oil revenues by
officials in the state oil firm, a charge they
deny.
Oil theft has contributed to the high
likelihood Nigeria will lose its top African
crude oil exporter spot in May, as exports
could fall to their lowest since records
began in 2009.
Production of the Forcados grade has been
hit by underwater pipeline leakage, which
Shell blamed on oil theft, and which led the
operator to declare force majeure on the
grade this week.
Despite widespread evidence of collusion
between Nigerian security forces, the
government has been keen to portray oil
theft as the work of foreign criminal gangs.
Analysts say the main buyers are gangs in
the Balkans and refiners in Singapore.
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arrested on charges of trying to bribe a
military officer to facilitate oil theft, the
military said on Friday.
Major-General E.J. Atewe, commander of the
mixed military and police Joint Task Force
(JTF) for the oil-producing Niger Delta
region, said two of the bunkerers, both
Nigerian, had gone to an officer to request
clearance to move the crude oil.
They had openly admitted their plan was to
hack into a pipeline and connect a hose that
would siphon crude out of it onto a waiting
boat, and offered him $6,500 to provide a
gunboat to protect them on the way out.
“The suspects were immediately arrested
for attempting to bribe the brigade
commander for economic sabotage,” Atewe
said in a statement, and a follow-up
operation had led to the arrest of two
Britons and another eight Nigerians.
Oil theft by armed gangs is rampant in
Nigeria, with estimates ranging from
100,000 barrels to 250,000 barrels a day
lost to so-called “bunkerers”.
File photo: some arrested oil
thieves
File photo: some arrested oil thieves
Stories of collusion with the security forces
are common and the sheer scale of oil theft
in Nigeria would not be possible without
systematic collusion by various security
agencies, security sources say.
Loss of output from theft and outages
caused by sabotaging pipelines has cost the
treasury – which relies on oil for about 80
percent of revenues – billions of dollars.
Critics, however, say theft is exaggerated to
cover up embezzlement of oil revenues by
officials in the state oil firm, a charge they
deny.
Oil theft has contributed to the high
likelihood Nigeria will lose its top African
crude oil exporter spot in May, as exports
could fall to their lowest since records
began in 2009.
Production of the Forcados grade has been
hit by underwater pipeline leakage, which
Shell blamed on oil theft, and which led the
operator to declare force majeure on the
grade this week.
Despite widespread evidence of collusion
between Nigerian security forces, the
government has been keen to portray oil
theft as the work of foreign criminal gangs.
Analysts say the main buyers are gangs in
the Balkans and refiners in Singapore.
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