BY EVELYN USMAN
Attempts by some sus-pected pirates to syphon petroleum products from an oil vessel impounded by Nigerian Navy has been foiled by Naval operatives attached to NNS Beecroft, Apapa, Lagos.

Six suspected members of the gang were arrested at the Elegbeta channel of Apapa, where the impounded vessels were anchored.

Before handing the suspects over to the Police, yesterday, the Commander, NNS Beecroft, Commodore Chris Ezekobe, said that the ships, one of which is MV ARTI, were impounded by naval operatives attached to NNS Andoni, while on patrol two months ago.

He said: “She was arrested close to one of the ships in naval custody, which was also arrested by NNS Andoni.

“At the time of the arrest, the vessel was suspected to have attempted some illegal business transaction with the ships that was earlier arrested. Further investigations revealed that certain documents and IMO compliance were not met by the vessel.”

However, only the suspects were handed over to the Police, while the ships were still under NNS Beecroft custody, owing to what Ezekobe described as lack of facility by the Police to detain the ship.

He said that the Police would be allowed to access the seized ships anytime they wanted to in the course of their investigation, adding that they would be released if directed otherwise by Naval headquarters.