There are signs that the crew of the detained foreign mega tanker MT Heroic Idun may face justice in Nigeria.
Recall that on August 12, 2022, the MT Heroic Idun was apprehended in Equatorial Guinean waters after allegedly escaping from Nigeria on the pretext that it was being pursued by pirates.
Speaking to reporters recently, Rear Admiral Seidu Garba, the Chief of Policy and Plans at Navy Headquarters, stated that the detained foreign tanker, MT Heroic Idun, was not authorised to be in the Akpo Oilfield based on pertinent inquiries from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
According to Garba, the super tanker was later apprehended in Equatoria Guinea waters with the assistance of sister organisations in the Gulf of Guinea region after it disregarded a command from the Nigerian Navy to return to Bonny anchorage for questioning. The captain of the ship, according to him, refused to cooperate with the Nigerian Navy Inshore Patrol Craft (NNS Gongola), but instead alerted the world to the fact that the tanker was being followed by pirates.
According to the Naval Chief, on August 7, 2022, “when conducting routine surveillance of the maritime domain, it was noted that a very large crude oil ship MT HEROIC IDUN entered the Nigerian maritime environment and went for Akpo Field without any kind of authorization or approval.”
The 336-meter-long MT HEROIC IDUN (IMO: 9858058), which is registered in Marshall Islands, has a barrel capacity. On August 7, 2022, at midnight, the vessel arrived at Akpo Field with the clear goal of unlawfully removing crude oil from the Field.
However, the Nigerian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness facility detected this when it checked the authenticity of the Very Large Crude Carrier’s presence in the Akpo Field, which is operated by Total SA. The controlling organisation, NNPC Ltd., found that the vessel was not authorised to be in the Akpo Oilfield after conducting the necessary inquiries. The Nigerian Navy Inshore Patrol Craft, NNS GONGOLA, was dispatched as a result of this information to investigate the super tanker’s activities at Akpo. On August 8, 2022, NNS GONGOLA arrived at the Akpo Oilfield and questioned MT HEROIC IDUN, among other things, about her mission and permission to enter the field.
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“The captain of the ship duly replied to the inquiries and added that MT HEROIC IDUN lacked the necessary authorization to operate in the Field. As a result, the vessel was instructed to do a U-turn and follow NNS GONGOLA to the Bonny harbour until NNPC Ltd. approved her for loading.
“However, after speaking with the Master/Shipping Agent, the Captain declined to assist NNS GONGOLA and claimed that she had been instructed not to follow instructions from the Nigerian Navy Ship. Then, in an effort to avoid capture, she set off at full speed towards the direction of the Sao Tome and Principe maritime area.
In addition to defying legal arrest, the captain of the ship transmitted a bogus piracy assault call to the IMB Piracy Reporting Center in an effort to deceive seafarers into thinking the NNS GONGOLA was a pirate ship and perhaps invent an excuse for her desperate behaviour.
On the piracy alert, the Nigerian Navy also informed appropriate piracy reporting centres via CRESMAO and ECOWAS ZONE F Cotonou, which were overseen by Nigerian Navy officials, to request that the alert be immediately revoked, which was done. Permit me to note that it has been more than a year since there was a pirate raid in Nigerian waters.
‘‘Therefore, this wicked act by the ship is obviously intended to destroy the positive reputation of Nigeria’s maritime domain, which we have fought extremely hard to establish.The Nigerian Navy was forced to enlist the assistance of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea through the Yaoundé Architecture to capture the vessel after noticing that it had halted moving within the waters of that country due to the captain’s blatant act of defiance against established authorities.’’
“I must say that the Equatorial Guinea Navy was continuously updated on the location of the rogue vessel using the surveillance equipment of the Nigerian Navy. Therefore, on August 12th, the Equatorial Guinea Amphibious Ship, CAPTAIN DAVID, was directed to track down and detain MT HEROIC IDUN.
‘While we await diplomatic processes for handing over to the Nigerian Navy, the ship is currently being held at the Luba Anchorage in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, where the nation is conducting its own investigations.’’
