Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the tugboat Solo Creed had been arrested in Angola in his wrap-up speech in the Senate budget debate on 23 October according to local reports.
The arrest of a ship means its restriction by court order to secure a maritime legal claim and to prevent fleeing to avoid penalties Colm Imbert noted in his speech. On February 7, the tugboat was towing the barge Gulfstream when the latter reportedly overturned on a reef and then began to leak bunker oil in the waters off Cove, Tobago.
On Friday last, through the Attorney General’s Office, TT arrested the tug, the Solo Creed, in Angola, which was the abandoned barge off Tobago that caused so much damage in Tobago.
…said Minister Colm Imbert.
The oil contaminated part of Tobago’s coast and also reportedly reached Grenada and Bonaire, spilling 51,000 barrels of oil, with the Government donating $50 million towards clean-up out of $134 million sought by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), local reports note.
