File photo shows a China Coast Guard vessel on patrol at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in 2017. Picture taken April 5, 2017. (REUTERS)
The Federal Government has released and handed over a large crude carrier, MT Heroic Idun, to the owners, Idun Maritime Limited, after fulfilling the conditions of the plea bargain entered between them and the Nigerian government.
It would be recalled that the tanker with 26 foreign crew on board resisted arrests by the Nigerian Navy Ship Gongola, near the Apu oilfield offshore Nigeria and eventually arrested in Equatorial Guinea in August 2022.
The crude carrier and the foreigners were then brought back to Nigeria for prosecution in November 2022 on three count charges.
The convicted vessel, MT HEROIC IDUN and its owners were to pay conviction fines and restitution to the federal government and make an apology to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in print and electronic media as well as Llyod’s List, while the government agreed not to further criminally prosecute and/or investigate the vessel, her owners, charterers or her crew in the matter of her crime against the State.
All these being the conditions of the plea bargain without which the vessel and its crew would not be released.
The convicted vessel, having satisfied the conditions of the plea bargain was handed over officially to the owners, Idun Maritime Limited offshore the Atlantic coast of Rivers State.
Speaking at the handing over, the Commanding Officer, Forward Operating Base, Bonny, Navy Captain Mohammed Adamu, said prosecuting the vessel under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019 further demonstrates the Nigerian Navy’s practical commitment to end oil theft in the country. Continue Reading>>>
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