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Ben Dunno, Warri
The medium size sea-going vessel, MT Tura II, arrested last Friday while siphoning crude oil from a well head along the Delta-Ondo border on the high sea by a Joint Military and Tantita Security outfit operatives was today partially destroyed by the military at Bennett Island in Warri South Council area of Delta state.
The impounded vessel that was paraded before newsmen at Oporoza, in Warri South West Local government on Monday was relocated to the Bennett Island for safety of the residents along the coastal areas, especially the fishermen who moves from one riverine settlement to another carrying out their trade.
The deployment of logistics to the destruction site which start from Warri at about 10am, saw the local vigilantes and members of the Tantita security engaging local means of destruction with fuel being at strategic compartment of the vessel and fire thrown into the vessel so it could go up in flame.
The fire which burnt for a while however could not destroy the vessel and the next phase was to bring in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) bombardment helicopter from Port Harcourt that commenced aerial shelling at about 1:09pm but it also could not do much in destroying the vessel.
The next option was to draft in the military dynamite experts who after accessing the situation decided to hold on their operation till tomorrow to destroy the vessel.
Speaking with newsmen on the destruction exercise, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, Executive Director, Technical and Operations, Tantita Security, noted that the essence of the destruction was serve as warning to those behind the illegal oil trade in the region to desist.
According to him, “You are all aware of the arrest of MT Tura II, last Friday along the border area of Delta and ondo state on the sea. And the good thing about this is that, we were able to get an express approval by the authorities to have this vessel destroyed and that is what we are here to do today”.
“This destruction would not only serve as a deterrent to those engaged to carrying out these criminal acts on our waterways but also send warning signals to their sponsors and international partners to desist from the illicit oil trade, as it is no longer business as usual,” he stated.
