A vessel, MT Preye 1 and her crew of eleven suspected oil thieves arrested by officers of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, Bonny, Rivers State, were today, February 18, 2020, handed over to the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for further investigation and possible prosecution.
Commanding Officer of the FOB, Commodore K. O Oguntuga, disclosed that the vessel, suspected to be carrying unspecified quantity of stolen crude oil and her crew were arrested at about 1815 hours on January 10, 2020.
The crew include Tunji Ishola, Friday Ikuonu, James Friday, Jerry Amarh, Ezekiel Udoh and Austin Dani. Others are Chigozie Jonathan, Ajala Ahmed, Emmanuel Okeoghene, Ojakovo Anthony and Onaimor Nisdom.
This latest development comes just a few days after the Nigerian Navy handed over Seven Sri-Lakans, two Ghanaians who were among 66 suspected crude oil thieves arrested in December 2019 by naval operatives attached to the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS, BEECROFT in Lagos to the Commission for prosecution.
Speaking during a media briefing in Lagos on Thursday, February 13, 2020, Navy Capt. Rafiu Oladejo, Executive Officer, NNS BEECROFT, stated that the suspects would be charged to court, adding that the Navy would also hand over to the EFCC seven vessels used by the suspects to commit the crime.
The arrests is also coming after the Commission applauded the partnership between the Nigerian Navy and the commission in prosecuting Illegal Oil Bunkering Cases.
The Zonal head of the Port Harcourt office, Usman Imam had appealed to the Nigerian Navy to facilitate the release of its arresting officers to give evidence in oil theft cases under prosecution in court. He made the plea on February 10 2020, during a courtesy visit to the Commanding Officer of Navy Ship, NNS Pathfinder, Commodore S. J Bura.
He noted that the Commission had experienced challenges calling officers of the Navy who arrest vessels and crew for oil bunkering offences to testify in court.
According to him, having arresting officers testify improves the chances of securing a conviction in most of the cases.
The partnership is clearly yielding results, as more oil criminals operating on illegal operations with vessels are being apprehended and handed to the Commission for prosecution by the Nigerian Navy.