Luanda, July 22, 2024 (Lusa) - In the last two years, Angola has recorded four attempts to steal oil tankers, carried out by Nigerian citizens, a police source told Lusa on Monday.
According to the spokesman for the Angolan National Police, Mateus Rodrigues, the latest case was recorded at the beginning of this month, resulting in the arrest of two Nigerian citizens and another from Ghana, when they tried to sail away with the Angolan-flagged oil tanker without the knowledge of the Angolan authorities.
‘As we have a surveillance system that allows us to see who is tampering with ships off the coast, we detected this movement,’ said Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues.
The deputy director of Institutional Communication and Press of the National Police stressed that, in this case, a movement was detected on 1 July, which led to the intervention of a team made up of the captaincy of the port of Luanda and the Fiscal Police, who noticed the ‘presence of three strange individuals’.
He said one was a mechanical engineer, the other an electronics engineer and the other the ship's captain.
The Angolan-flagged ship was moored in Luanda Bay, in the Sarico area, in the municipality of Cacuaco.
‘They entered the country on tourist visas and went to this ship to carry out this professional activity. Several offences led to their arrest,’ explained Mateus Rodrigues, adding that ’further details can only be obtained from the SIC [Criminal Investigation Service] or the multisectoral operational group for maritime surveillance or inspection.’
The Angolan police spokesman stressed that any procedure, taking into account that these are ships flying the national flag and anchored off the Angolan coast, must be authorised by the authorities, but ‘they sneak onto the ships’.
Lusa tried to hear SIC, but no further information was provided on the matter.
NME/ADB // ADB.
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