Oil theft: 3 Indians bag 15 years in jail
A Federal High
Court sitting in Yenegoa, Balyesa on Wednesday convicted three Indians for oil
theft brought before it by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Indian nationals, Mr Sailesh Kumar Singh, Captain of
the vessel MT Akshay,Mr Chadrashekar Sharma and
Ajay Bhatiya, owner of the vessel, were sentenced to 15 years
imprisonment for their involvement in oil theft.
The convicts were among twelve suspected oil thieves
arrested aboard MT Akshay by men of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta.
They were
reportedly convicts were arrested in November, 2012 and handed over to the EFCC
for further investigation and prosecution.
They were arraigned on a 2-count charge on January 22,
2013 before Justice Lambo Akanbi.
According to the EFCC, the court found the first and the
two accused persons alongside the owner of the vessel who is still at large
guilty and convicted them.
The other accused persons Dharmaraj Kumar, Ajay Kumar,
Nimesh Kodi Parambil, Ashraf Ali, Sanjeev Kumar, Sarbjot Singh, Arvind Kumar
Bhardwaj, Gagan Kumar, Dele Johnson Olayemi and Benneth Egbegi were discharged
and acquitted on the two counts preferred against them by the EFCC.
However, the court was silent on the vessel, and it’s
content.
The Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta was reorganized to ensure prompt prosecution of oil theft suspects
