photo by VMU-2 Eleven tankers are photographed by a Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 ScanEagle as they rallied after siphoning oil on a remote highway in Iraq. With the help of VMU-2, the suspects were taken into custody by 1st Battalion, 4th Marines.

Recently, the Marines of Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 observed such an event.

‘‘ScanEagle 1 was tasked to do a route scan by 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, when they observed a lone oil tanker siphoning from the pipeline,” said Maj. Keith M. Chirico, VMU-2 ScanEagle officer-in-charge. ‘‘Their initial observation and subsequent surveillance was the catalyst for finding 11 total tankers and indirectly highlighting the smuggling operations to all other units in the area of operations.”

After noticing the illegal activity, VMU contacted 1st Bn., 4th Marines and were directed to continue surveillance of the tanker.

‘‘Following them later led us to a rendezvous point with 10 more oil tankers,” said 1st Lt. Thomas Culberson, the mission commander⁄officer-in-charge for VMU-2 Det. B located in Al Qaim. ‘‘Maj. Chirico’s team was in the air to our north and began to gain awareness on the situation. The 11 tankers proceeded west toward the Syrian border and began to break up into two groups. We continued observation of the lead group of seven tankers while Maj. Chirico’s team established visual of the trail group four remaining tankers.”

VMU led the Marines on the ground to the vehicles, which were captured and taken into custody, preventing the suspects from selling the oil on the black market.

‘‘We think it was extremely important to stop the vehicles,” said Culberson. ‘‘Oil has been smuggled out of Iraq and sold on the black market in neighboring countries. It was important to keep that oil in the country to be used by the Iraqi people and out of the hands of individuals that use the profits from black market sales to fund the effort against us.

The VMU Marines believe that by stopping the oil siphoning, they are directly affecting the establishment of the Iraqi government and economy.

‘‘Preventing the stolen oil from being sold on the local black market or leaving the country puts the valuable resources back in the hands of law-abiding Iraqis, holding their costs down and minimizing the burden of rationing scarce petroleum products,” he said .