According to the spokesperson for the National Police of Angola, Mateus Rodrigues, the last case was registered at the beginning of this month, resulting in the arrest of two citizens of Nigeria and another of Ghana, when they tried to start the oil tanker, flying the Angolan flag, without the knowledge of national authorities.
“As we have a surveillance system that allows us to see who is moving the ships at shore level, 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 the 1st of July, which led to an intervention by a team made up of the captaincy of the Port of Luanda and the Tax Police, who noticed the “presence of these three strange individuals”.
One of them is a mechanical engineer, another an electronics engineer and another the captain of the ship, he highlighted.
The Angolan-flagged ship was moored in the bay of Luanda, in the Sarico area, municipality of Cacuaco.
“They entered the country on a tourist visa and went to this ship to carry out this professional activity. There is a series of infractions that led to their arrest”, explained Mateus Rodrigues, adding that “other details in more depth can only be obtained from the SIC [Criminal Investigation Service] or the multisectoral maritime surveillance or inspection operational group”.
The Police spokesperson highlighted that any procedure, taking into account that they are ships flying the national flag and are anchored off the Angolan coast, must be authorized by the authorities, but “they enter the ships surreptitiously”.
Lusa tried to hear from SIC, which did not provide any further information on the matter.
