Setting off at the break of dawn, a special task force made up of various security agencies head out on a mission to track down oil thieves in the Niger Delta.

Oil theft in Nigeria costs the country an estimated $8bn in revenue every year. The level of theft is so high that some multinationals are pulling out, and reducing their onshore presence in the country.

As a result, Nigeria is now facing its worst oil crisis in years.



The crude oil is refined bunkered on barges and then sent via tankers in the Atlantic to buyers in West Africa, Europe and even Asia.

An operation so wide, and large, the workers here are only on one end of a vast criminal network.

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh travelled with the special task team in the Bayelsa state.