{"id":72220,"date":"2020-03-16T20:06:41","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=72220"},"modified":"2020-03-16T20:06:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:06:41","slug":"15-oil-thieves-bag-three-years-jail-term-in-lagos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/15-oil-thieves-bag-three-years-jail-term-in-lagos\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Oil Thieves Bag Three Years Jail Term in Lagos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Office,
\non March 16, 2020, secured the conviction of 15 oil thieves and two
\nVessels before Justice Rilwan Aikawa of a Federal High Court sitting in
\nLagos.<\/p>\n

Justice Aikawa found them guilty on all three counts, and sentenced them
\nto one year in prison on each count, which will take effect from the day
\nof their arrest.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Justice Aikawa ordered the forfeiture of the vessels to the
\nFederal Government and imposed a fine of Six Hundred Thousand Naira on
\neach convict aboard MT Zeebrugge and the sum of Nine Hundred Thousand
\nNaira on each convict aboard MV Ekpere Amaka.<\/p>\n

The convicts are: MT Zeebrugge (vessel), Kapilarathana A.J, Yapa,
\nRamanayaka Appuhamilage Maithripala, Labunu Hewage Udayanga Silva,
\nShashika Yomal Palipana, Amarasinge Arachchige Dasman Chaml, Kariyawasan
\nWijewardbana and Joseph Felsianus Fernando.
\nOthers are: MV Ekpere Amaka (vessel), Eliaja Agoso, Assayomo Julius,
\nGodwin Ajimosun, Jerome Nwaobi, Ukpe Wisdom, Bayonle-Jude Olawunmi,
\nVincent Antai and John Zola.<\/p>\n

They were first arraigned on three counts of illegal oil dealing in
\npetroleum product on March 4, 2020 and they pleaded “not guilty” to the
\ncharge.<\/p>\n

However, at today’s sitting, the defence counsel, Paul Ejiga intimated
\nthe court that they had the intention of changing their pleas.<\/p>\n

The charge was read to them and they all pleaded “guilty” to the charge.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo called two witnesses
\nto give evidence and placed some documents before the court.<\/p>\n

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Oyedepo, an operative with
\nthe EFCC, Moses Awolusi told the court that on the 23rd of December
\n2019, the commission received a letter of notification from the Nigerian
\nNavy, NNS Beecroft notifying them of the arrest of seven oil thieves and
\na vessel, MT Zeebrugge.<\/p>\n

He said: “They were arrested on December 12, 2019 with 838.5 metric tons
\nof crude oil on board the vessel.<\/p>\n

“On the 3rd of January, 2020 we went on board the vessel with officials
\nof Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR to take samples of the
\nproducts on the vessel in the presence of the convicts and was forwarded
\nfor laboratory analysis.
\n“On the 9th of January, 2020, their statements were recorded under
\ncaution.”<\/p>\n

Moses also told the court that the commission wrote a letter to the DPR
\nto ascertain if the vessel had license to deal in petroleum products and
\na response was received.<\/p>\n

Letters were also sent to Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety
\nAgency, NIMASA to confirm if they had a permit to sail on Nigerian
\nWaters and a response was received as well.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, he revealed that investigations showed that the convicts
\ndid not have a license to deal in petroleum product and that they loaded
\nfrom a wooden boat around Forcados Terminal without appropriate license.<\/p>\n

Another witness, Seun Ogunduyile, an operative with the EFCC, who was
\nalso led in evidence by Oyedepo, told the court that the commission
\nreceived a letter dated December 30, 2019 from NNS Beecroft on the
\narrest of eight oil thieves and a vessel, MV Ekpere Amaka.
\nGiving her evidence, Ogunduyile told the court that during the course of
\ninvestigation, her team alongside DPR officials went to where the vessel
\nwas located and found 85 Metric Tons of petroleum product.<\/p>\n

Investigations revealed that the convicts did not have the license to
\ndeal in petroleum products.<\/p>\n

Ogunduyile also told the court that letters were written to the DPR and
\nNIMASA and responses were received.
\nOyedepo, sought to tender all evidence before the court and they were
\nadmitted as exhibits.<\/p>\n

One of the counts reads: “That you, MV Ekpere Amaka, Eliaja Agoso,
\nAssayomo Julius, Godwin Ajimosun, Jerome Nwaobi, Ukpe Wisdom,
\nBayonle-Jude Olawunmi, Vincent Antai and John Zola, on the 25th of
\nDecember, 2019, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable
\nCourt, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: dealing
\nin 85 metric tons of petroleum products without appropriate licence; and
\nyou, thereby, committed an offence contrary to Section 3(6) of the
\nMiscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria
\n2004 and punishable under Section 1(17) of the same Act.”<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Office, on March 16, 2020, secured the conviction of 15 oil thieves and two Vessels before Justice Rilwan Aikawa of a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n15 Oil Thieves Bag Three Years Jail Term in Lagos - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/15-oil-thieves-bag-three-years-jail-term-in-lagos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"15 Oil Thieves Bag Three Years Jail Term in Lagos - 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