there's a tiny village located in a neutral zone between Ben Republic and Bina Faso this small village has become a hub for all kinds of illegal activities and trade this is the Kalo region a highly disputed border between these two countries on the surface it looks just like another remote Borderland but this place hides a secret of West Africa's most lucrative Underground ground trade oil smuggling the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation lamented the escalating incidents of petrol smuggling across Nigeria's borders which it puts at whopping 42 million L per day on the Benning side of the border under the cover of night men Drve old trucks full of Jans with smuggled fuel from a Nigerian Coastal Port where large tankers quietly offload stolen oil into hidden deports by the time it reaches Kuru it has been altered disguised and repackaged to avoid suspicion while crossing the border but this is just the beginning of a long ride into the final destination from Kuru the SML transport this year using small unmarked Vehicles there sometimes use motorbikes or hide the fu under sacks of grain the Smugglers know every Trail every Patrol shedule and every official willing to look the other way for the right price by morning the Fe reaches Koo where underground storage tanks are buried in farms and backyards this is no small operation from Koo the fer is sold to Black Market dealers who distribute it across Bina F and even further supplying Black Market fuel stations and industries willing to pay less for smuggled oil all this happen while governments lose millions of dollars the question is how did this illegal trade grow so big who are the people behind it and most importantly what's been done by the government to stop them this is the story of the criminal cartel behind oil smuggling in Africa the biggest issue and challenge uh for the economy and also for manufacturer is actually to do with [Music] smuggling oil smuggling which involves the illegal movement and trade of oil products like crude oil gasoline and Diesel has become a very lucrative business in Africa Smugglers can sell oil at prices lower than the regular market price allowing them to make a good profit because of the big difference in oil prices between countries take for instance Bina Faso Chad Mali morania and N which are all countries from the sah region of Africa were set to at one point use over 9,500 barrels of gasoline and diesel fuel each day that is more than 33 million barrels a year or an equivalent of 5 billion lers now consider this scenario if the average pump price is $1 per liter the total value of gasoline in the region both legal and illegal could be at least $5 billion each year that is the size of the market here some of these countries are among Africa's largest oil producers still all five countries rely heavily on illegal fuel imports from nearby countries while countries like Chad morania and Niger produce oil only Chad and Niger can refine crude into fuer on a large scale and then there is Nigeria another country in the Sahel that makes this oil smuggling possible and lucrative president goodlock Jonathan has said that 60% of the total fuel subsidy funds me for the benefit of the masses in Nigeria were smuggled out of the country you see Nigeria's subsidized fuel prices have contributed immensely to the smuggling problem fer intended for domestic use is sold cheaply to licensed marketers by the nnpc that is the Nigerian oil company however instead of selling this Oil locally some marketers with help from corrupt officials smuggle the subsidized product across the border to nearby countries like ni Cameroon Benin and and chard where they will sell it at higher prices even after paying their costs one of the countries where Smugglers love to sell their product is Ben Republic a waterfront was the only route that we knew from the Ben Republic down to Nigeria but there's no permit for them to be carrying F in J Benin heavily depends on a vast illegal Network that smuggles petrol from Nigeria this West African country home to nearly 11 million people struggle to provide enough fuel for its population its gas stations are too few and Nigeria's much cheaper fuel prices make it impossible for Benin to compete this situation has led to the rise of a very lucrative business opportunity but this opportunity is not exploited by greedy Nigerian oil marketers alone about 40 years ago smugglers in Benin began buying petrol from Nigeria and illegally transporting it back to their country the leaders of this illegal trade have reportedly gained significant influence over the years reports claim that some powerful figures in Benin are even involved in this trade and they have allegedly worked their way up the ranks shaping politics to serve their interest but how do they operate when the merchandise arrive on Benin soil hundreds of men with motorbikes are seen waiting on the shore for the Jans bearing the initials of Ja coures their first job is to identify their cans then load and securely fasten them to their bikes transporting the fer is quite a risky job they travel through dangerous Forest paths and crowded city streets in places like konu and Pon noo putting themselves and others at risk the smuggling routes are extensive stretching across the nearly 800 kilm border between Nigeria and Benin according to the cable some people in towns like semii and other remote Villages make a living by buying and reselling F smuggled from Nigeria but this business involves more than just transporting and managing few operations although illegal the smuggling business has created jobs for the people living here as there's a role for almost everyone interested some sell the containers and sacks used to carry the fuel others handle the loading and some even act as Lookouts or informant to help the Smugglers avoid getting caught this illegal industry generates around5 billion CFA Frank annually which is about €60 million or $172 million it is alleged that the government of Benin has struggled for years to stop this trade as such a move would not only anger both the Smugglers and customers who rely on cheaper fuel it would also cut off the country's main source of petrol but this trade is not limited to the Benning Republic alone the borders between Nigeria and Cameroon crawls with Lawless folks carrying out similar trade in areas stretching across States like adamawa taraba and cross river the presence of security Personnel from Nigeria and Cameroon have done little to stop these illegal activities with some security officers from both countries alleged to be involved in the smuggling business in Nigeria The Joint tax Force which is supposed to combat crimes like oil theft is alleged to be complicit and instead of curbing illegal activities some members are said to accept bribes to protect pipeline vendors and illegal oil refineries similarly in Cameroon security officers confiscate smug good oil from small Traders only to allegedly resell it themselves for profit According to some retired military sources St crude oil from Southern Nigerian States like basa and rivers is transported via Creeks to States near the border such as aom and Cross River from there the oil is smuggled to Cameroon using small boats carrying as much as 300,000 L of oil daily to Ports like a now in Cameroon the Niger River is a key route for some of these smuggling activities but who is The Mastermind behind this illegal business oil smuggling can happen on a small scale like when local fishermen take oil across border towns in small boats especially in areas where countries are close to each other on a larger scale though smuggling is done by organized groups such as transnational criminal networks militant groups terrorists or even governments yeah these organized crime groups often work with corrupt officials to avoid getting caught like in 2011 during the reign of the Niger Delta Avengers in Nigeria oil theft by this militants and criminal networks was said to have cost Nigeria about $4. 4 billion in October 2018 the Navy denied accusations that its Personnel took large bribes from oil Bonkers to let them operate freely in bil Coaster communities in River State people in ASA State have reported that the military often does not destroy illegal oil refining facilities but instead Target sites where they dump flammable waste there were also claims that military personnel ask for payments from illegal refineries to let them continue their operations these payments are said to be done on a schedule when refineries fail to pay they face penalties for example a report about military's involvement in oil theft in the Niger data published in 2019 stated that one refiner failed to pay its operational fee of 4 million Nigerian Nara about 11,000 us do at the time when Military Officers arrived at the given deadline they opened fire allegedly killing one person and demanding an extra 200,000 Nigerian Nara that is about $550 us for the delay the next day the refiner paid 1. 7 million naira that is $5,000 at the time to the Rogue officers with a promise to pay the remaining 2.
3 million Nara later military personnel were also accused of collecting payments from people involved in oil theft at checkpoints in a planned way in the investigation some persons interviewed in Pak explained that those trading in oil products could pay fees in advance to move easily through checkpoints and avoid having their goods taken by these people they must however inform the military about the exact amount of oil they want to transport and pay a contact before passing through these checkpoints these Rogue officers then check if the declared amount matches the actual cargo when the vehicle passes through if there are discrepancies the military May seize the vehicle and his products in Cross River smuggling is highly organized under a group called The nitrate Union this Union is set to oversee the transportation of fuer across the Nigerian Cameroon border membership here is said to require connections and Hefty Fields with leaders reportedly earning Millions weekly when business is good now there's one other African country plagued by o smuggling Libya's oil riches should have been his salvation but with its refining capacity crippled by years of conflict Libya still depends on imported fuer to make it affordable it citizens the government subsidized it heavily creating a black market Bonanza as Smugglers divert Fu and sell it abroad at market prices for enormous profits in the western Libyan town of zawiya just outside of Tripoli one of the nation's key refineries as a WEA oil refining company has become the center of this illegal trade a local warlord fary Ben Khalifa known as the king of Za worked with the armed militia she had Al ner Brigade The Brigade is supposed to guard the facility but in reality it takes a cut of the profits from smuggling activities this way the petrol That was supposed to benefit Libya's people is then loaded onto fishing boats and small tankers for export but where does this shipment go according to an investigation by public eye and trial International one of the international buyers of Libya's stolen oil was a Swiss company colar group AG a large fur and bofur Trader Incorporated in Zog in 1997 where it also had its headquarters between 2012 and 2015 investigators discovered that the Zog based company kma AG rented eight fer tanks in Ras hanzi from July to December 2015 kma also occupied all five of the fer tanks belonging to the h s underground storage facility which is located by the airport this investigation further revealed that from 27th May 2014 to 18th July 2015 vessels named Rota amazig F and sell offloaded marine gas oil 22 times at the dolphins of Ras hanzi and has samter at a time when coma was leing the storage units the Multistate owned enate confirmed that a total of 50,9 111 metric tons were offloaded on this occasions in most cases the tankers returning from the Libyan Coast interestingly enough had taken time to switch off their AIS system for several hours or even days thereby enabling these smuglers to temporarily fall off the radar the investigators compared the ship movements with bank transfers made by kma to oano Blue trading limited and the connection was hard to miss between June and July 2015 the the ships amazig and sell docked at the RAS hanzi and has s Port nine times around the same time from June 18th to July 22nd 2015 kma sent over $1 million to a company owned by Darren debono the timing was too close to be a coincidence they discovered that coma received over 20 shipments of smuggled Lian F between 2014 and 2015 these shipments were arranged through Shady Partnerships including one with mul's businessman Darren debono and gon debono Darren debono is a former M foodball star who runs a seafood restaurant located in the mes capital of LA valeta but behind the scenes his Fishing Company was a front for moving smuggled fer his associate gon de brono the football player Nam sake a Ferrari driving businessman who boast of owning one in every col available run a small Trading Company petrol plus limited a company that chattered two ships the routa and the Cel which traveled to Libya regularly to help farming transport fuel stolen from Zia's Refinery the oil would leave Libya on small fishing boats transferred to tankers owned by Darren and Gordon and quietly vanish into the ports of Malta and Sicily by 2015 the smuggling operation caught the attention of Colonel Francisco Roy of Italy's gaja def finanza A specialized police force Ru first noticed something odd in January 2015 he noticed that satellite imagery and AIS tracking used to monitor ship movements showed tankers appearing along Libya's coast and Vanishing from radar they would then reappear days later in multi Sports ruis and his team launched operation dirty or a covert investigation that traced the fer from Ian Waters to Euro's black market and what they found was quite shocking between June 2015 and June 2016 while tracking the bonus for ships he discovered that about 82,000 tons of smuggled fuel what Millions had been trafficked into Sicily alone under a company called maxcom Bonas sa the SML bought the fer for €27 million even though the same amount would normally be worth 1 million on the open market instead of selling it for the official price of 0. 53 per liter they sold it very cheaply at just 0. 28 per liter but the story didn't end in Malta once the fuer arrived it was stored in tanks some of which were rented by this company called coma and to cover up the fact that it came from Libya the fuel was mixed with other types to disguise its origin then it was sold across Europe and ended up at petrol stations in countries like Italy France and Spain despite not meeting the strict standards for car fer in Europe This mixing process to disguise the origin is known as oil blending yeah as Ru dug deeper he uncovered a connection between fary Ben alifa and the debono DU in Malta and an unsuspecting player kma group AG a Swit Trading compan ru's team stumbled upon Darren's peculiar purchases high-tech satellite phones bought on a company card officially Darren was running a seafood business but why did a fisherman need a satellite phone this question LED investigators to Daren Fleet of ships which included tankers like the amazig F and the routa these vessels regularly sailed between zawiya and Malta unloading their cargo at storage facilities rented by coma also koma's payments to oeno Blue trading limited one of Daring debono shell companies raised eyebrows between June and July 2015 kma transferred 11 million us to this small mot business is some that coincided with the arrival of smood shipments at K rented tanks in Malta this money Trail pointed straight to the heart of the smuggling operation when Italian investig gors tapped into phone lines and intercepted documents they discovered that Farm's certificates of origin for the oil shipments were all fraudulent these certificates had been created using the scanner of a multis company World water Fisheries belonging to daring the Bon and while the investigators were taking a closer look at the two men's business activities they were allerted to possible irregularities in the movement of gas oil to Italy by another company the Italian petrol giant any which had operated in Libya for several decades and as always the losers in all of this are the Libyan people who have seen their government spend 23.
