Court records indicate Shell paid off the Nigerian military

LONDON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Court records allege that Royal Dutch Shell paid the Nigerian military to suppress opposition to its exploration campaign in the Niger Delta.

Documents from a case before a U.S. district court in New York in 2009 included some from the 1990s that indicated the supermajor paid the military and police in Nigeria to keep opposition to its oil campaign under control, The Guardian newspaper in London reports. The documents, the newspaper said, weren't formally presented during trial.

Shell was accused of working with the government in the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leader of the Ogoni tribe, which opposes work in the Niger Delta.

Shell, documents reviewed by the newspaper said, paid the Nigerian army to retrieve a truck as "a show of gratitude and motivation." That action, The Guardian noted, left one man dead and two others wounded.

Human rights groups accuse Shell of contributing to a legacy of human rights abuses in Nigeria. Former Shell Nigeria Director Brian Anderson was quoted by the newspaper as saying his company played "no part in any military operations" in the Niger Delta.

Nigeria is dealing with renewed security concerns following a series of attacks by Islamic militant group Boko Haram, which took responsibility for an August attack on U.N. offices in Abuja.

A special Joint Task Force in the country issued an order for increased surveillance near oil installations in the oil-rich south.