Omon-Julius Onabu
5 October 2008
Warri — Four barges believed to be used in conveying illegally bunkered petroleum products in the Niger-Delta have been intercepted and seized by the security Joint Task Force (JTF) in Warri, Delta State .
The report said there was a minor skirmish as some unidentified gunmen later engaged the JTF operatives watching over the four seized vessels.
It was, however, not clear if there were casualties during the gun duel that reportedly lasted for several hours.
The incident, THISDAY learnt, occurred at the weekend at Alogwe creek on the Benin River.
The joint JTF's media co-ordinator, Lt-Col Rabe Abubakar, who confirmed the incident, said that JTF troops arrested four barges at Alogwe creek along Benin River but "three of the barges were loaded with substance suspected to be crude oil, while one was empty."
According to Abubakar, "troops securing the arrested barges were attacked by militants suspected to be operating from Okerenkoko. The attack was successfully repelled without casualty on our side while the attackers escaped with injuries."
In the early hours of Wednesday, October 1, 2008 "while patriotic Nigerians were celebrating our 48 independence anniversary, some suspected militants from Okerenkoko launched a second unprovoked attack in an attempt to release the barges", he lamented, but noted that the attack was again successfully repelled.
Similarly, "a barge towed by a wooden boat and eight persons suspected to be involved in illegal oil bunkering act were arrested by our troops at Ogbududu creek in Delta State", he further revealed.
"All those arrested together with the barges are in our custody; and are undergoing investigation information available to us revealed that angered by the seizures and the botched attempts to retake the barges, militants are planning to attack our location at Dibi, Olero, Abiteyo and Escravos targeting oil installations and facilities.", he said.
However, the Commander Joint Task Force, Brig-Gen Nanven W Rimtip, who spoke through his Coordinator Joint Media Centre, Abubakar has warned those planning the attack to desist in their own interest as it will amount to committing suicide as our troops have been placed on high alert. The Commander vowed that they will pay a very high price for their actions if they chose to go ahead with their planned attack, because our troops are at maximum alert to deter the planned attack.
In another development, at about 291030A Sep '08 our troops on patrol recovered 130 vandalized (4inch) SPDC's pipes at Okowun village in Sapele.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
