Tantita Security Services Limited’s management has refuted claims by the Nigerian Navy that its personnel were involved in crude oil theft, describing the alleged arrest and parade of its personnel by NNS Beecroft of the Nigerian Navy as a farce designed to discredit the efforts of the company in charge of the pipeline surveillance contract, which has had tremendous success in reducing crude oil theft.
Tantita Security Services stated in a statement that the story of Commodore Kolawole Olumide Oguntuga of the NNS Beecroft of what happened on Monday, August 29th, when a wooden boat loaded with 11 1000-litre tanks of suspected stolen crude oil in Ondo state was apprehended with four Tantita personnel.
Tantita Security Services, on the other hand, provided complete details of what occurred.
“On that day, after receiving credible intelligence that a motorized wooden boat was illegally loading crude oil from an Offshore Oil Well Jacket of OML 110 operated by Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria Limited, where a barge MT TURA II was caught stealing Crude oil a few months ago, it deployed an advance team to search for the wooden boat, while a backup team comprised of six personnel of the Nigerian Civil Defence and Security Corps and eight of its personnel was assembled to search for the wooden boat.”
“With the assistance of a local fisherman, the advance team was able to determine that the motorised wooden boat was heading in the direction of Lagos and gave a hot pursuit, and upon noticing the approaching Tantita Security Services personnel, the crew abandoned the wooden boat and fled with the speed boat.”
“Surprisingly, the escaping crew fled in the direction of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operation Base at Ibeju-Lekki, so Tantita and NSCDC personnel pursued in hot pursuit, believing that the suspected criminals would meet a dead end, but they were mistaken.” Tantita personnel were captured by the Nigerian Navy, who afterwards proceeded to the motorised wooden boat and chased away the Tantita Security Services and NSCDC personnel.
