Carcass of MT Deinmo, laden with 600-650 cubic metres of illegally lifted crude oil set ablaze by the Nigerian Navy.

The Automatic Identification System AIS of the ill-fated vessel, MT Deinmo, with IMO number 7210526, laden with over 600 cubic metres of illegally lifted crude oil in five compartments in Escravos area of Delta State, has been turned off transmission since 2020, Business and Transport can authoritatively report.

This is an indication that operatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd NNPCL and those of the Nigerian Navy must know something about the activities of the vessel, which had some crew members on board within the Nigerian waters at least for the two-year period she turned off transmission.

The AIS is an automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships and is used by vessel traffic services VTS. When satellites are used to receive AIS signatures, the term Satellite-AIS (S-AIS) is used. The International Maritime Organisation IMO regulations under the Safety of Lives at Sea SOLAS Convention, which has been domesticated in Nigeria mandates every vessel to always switch on its AIS for easy tracking.

The AIS transmits information on a continuous basis on the destination of the vessel, her expected time of arrival ETA to the nearest harbour and current location/position on the waters, all of which make for easy tracking. The SOLAS Convention requires every ocean going vessel with 500 Gross Registered Tonnage GRT to be fitted with AIS while vessels with over 300 GRT operating within the coastal waters are required to be fitted with the equipment, which is also designed to checkmate collision.

Authoritative maritime security sources, disclosed that the AIS of the ill-fated vessel, which was later hurriedly set ablaze by some officials of the Nigerian Navy and Tantita Security Services, a security firm owned by Chief Government Ekpemupolo, also called Tompolo has been operating on Nigerian waters in the last two years at least with her AIS switched off.

The source expressed curiosity over the chain of events that preceded the arrest and burning of the vessel, which also happened less than two months after the Federal Government awarded a N4billion pipeline security contract to Tompolo’s company, Tantita Security Services.

“There are questions that the Nigerian Navy and other security operatives on that axis of Nigeria’s territorial waters must provide answers to, some of which are: what happened to the 600-650 cubic metres of crude oil the vessel was carrying? What about pollution that could result from burning the vessel? But for me, burning the vessel was like being smart by half.

“We also heard that N25million bribe was offered by the Captain of the ill-fated vessel on behalf of the operators, which was turned down. This makes me feel that such bribes had been going on in the past, especially during the two-year period when the vessel turned off her AIS transmission of information to avoid being detected.

“Another possible scenario is that the vessel must have been used as a scapegoat, at least to justify the new pipeline security contract. These events also coincided with the discovery of some illegal pipelines connected to the NNPCL pipelines, which were used to illegally siphon crude oil, through which the country has lost huge sums in dollars.

It was however gathered that the ill-fated Dutch vessel, sold to a Nigerian, had been variously used for moving crude oil illegally for years and was scheduled to take the stolen crude to Tema in Ghana.