Nine foreigners were on Tuesday sentenced to five years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos on for stealing 3,423 metric tons of crude oil.
The convicts consist of five Filipinos and four Bangladeshi.
They are Axel Joseph, Gibo Jabone, Juanito Camireno, Suarin Fernando and Gatila Jaypee.
Others are Islam Shahinul, Islam Rafiqul, Shibli Nomany and Rolando Comendador.
Justice Ibrahim Buba convicted them on four counts in relation to the crime and sentenced each of them to a jail term of five years.
They, however, have an option of N20 million fine.
In his judgment, Buba said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), proved its case beyond reasonable doubts.
“The case of the prosecution is as clear as the daylight,” he said
He added that the failure of the convicts to supply evidence that they had lawful permit to deal in crude oil further strengthened the prosecution’s case.
The judge said the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was not opposed.
He agreed with PW5 who stated that the product was illegally sourced in Nigeria as the Department of Petroleum Resources confirmed to the EFCC that MT Asteris was not licenced to deal with crude oil in Nigeria.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
