A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has convicted and sentenced six foreigners and a Nigerian to seven years imprisonment for oil theft.
Justice J. K. Omotosho delivered the judgment on Monday after three years of prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The foreigners are two Pakistanis Mohammed Ejaz and Nasser Khan; two Ukranians Oleksandr Nazarenko and Oleksandr Kashernvi; Ghanaian Romeo Annang, and one Indonesian Fredrik Fatin Omenu.
The Nigerian David Otuohi bagged same jail term with them.
They were arraigned on November 21, 2017 alongside three other foreigners and another Nigerian for oil theft.
The other three foreigners – Victor Mikpayi (Beninois), Francis Ahorlu and Kwesi Attah (Ghanaians), and Victor Azebiri (Nigerian) – were discharged and acquitted by the court.
They were all docked alongside a company Asztral Shipping Corporation SA, and a Vessel MT. TECNE alias MT STAR on four count charges bordering on conspiracy, dealing in petroleum products without a licence and tampering with oil pipelines.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The company Asztral Shipping Corporation SA was wound up by the court while the vessel carrying the offensive crude oil MT TECNE was forfeited to the Federal Government.
