The Nigerian Navy Ship Delta, NNS Delta, on Tuesday June 6,2023 handed over a Vessel MT NELI to it’s owners three years after the ship was arrested for allegedly engaging in crude oil theft and illegal bunkering.
The commander of Nigeria Navy Ship , NNS Delta Commodore Chindo Yahaya during the handing over of the vessel MT NELI to the owners at NNS Delta Jetty revealed that the vessel was seized by the Navy on the 25th of November 2020 .
Commander NNS Delta said the release of the vessel followed the directive of the Naval Headquarters in compliance with a court order.
He added that the vessel was laden with unspecified quantity of illegal automated gas oil (AGO) and crude oil.
The commander who was represented by the executive officer of the base ,Captain Tony Bassey added that the vessel had been handed over to the EFCC for prosecution and the court Consequently awarded punishment on March 2020 and forfeiture of the product which was to be evacuated .
He stated that the court judgement was earlier passed to Naval Headquarters for compliance but due to error in the judgment as the vessel name was not specified in the earlier document presented, the court registrar was directed in conjunction with the EFCC to correct the anomaly in the order and represent same to Naval headquarters .
The commander NNS Delta said On rectification of the order, Naval Headquarters directed the evacuation and subsequent release of MT NELI to the owner.
He said there was no product in the vessel compartments when it was opened before it was handed over to the owners of the vessel represented by captain Adepitan Badewa in the presence of the Deputy chief Registrar of the court , representatives of the Economic and financial crimes commission EFCC.
