Oil Theft: Appeal Court Upholds Conviction of 9 Foreigners

Ladipo Sanusi/

The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, on Monday, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court, which jailed nine foreigners for stealing Nigeria’s crude oil.

The panel of judges, led by Justice Hussein Mukhtar, dismissed the two grounds of appeal filed by the convicted foreigners.

The other two justices that presided over the appeal are, M. L. Shuaib and Frederick Oho.

Justice Oho, who delivered the judgment, resolved all the issues put before the court by the convicts in favour of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In dismissing the convicts’ appeal, Justice Oho said: “All the issues are resolved against the appellants. The appeal is manifestly unmeritorious and is, hereby, dismissed for lacking in merit.”

It would be recalled that Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court, Lagos, had on December 15, 2015, convicted the nine foreigners, out whom five are Filipinos, and the rest Bangladeshi.

The nine were sentenced to 10 years each for stealing 3, 423. 097 metric tonnes of crude oil. They were, however, given an option of N20 million fine.

Justice Buba said it was the likes of the convicts, who were arrested by the Navy, on March 27, 2015, that give Nigeria a bad name.

The convicts are, Axel Jabone, Zahirul Islam, Juanito Infantado, Suarin Alave, Gatila Gadayan, Islam Shahinul, Islam Rafiqul, Shaikh Nomany and Rolando Comendador.

They were arraigned by the EFCC on four counts of conspiracy and illegal dealing in petroleum products.

EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said the foreigners violated Section 1(19) (6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, an offence punishable under Section 17 of the same Act.

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