Nigeria: Foreigners among 7 jailed for oil theft

ANKARA (AA) – Seven people, including six foreigners, have been jailed for seven years for oil theft in Nigeria, local media reported on Tuesday.

The sentence was handed down to two Pakistani nationals, two Ukrainians, one person from Ghana, one from Indonesia, and one Nigerian by a court in Nigeria’s Rivers State, local daily This Day reported.

Another four accused were acquitted by the court, according to the report.

The convicts were arrested in April 2017 when a vessel was intercepted by Nigerian authorities in the oil-rich Delta State.

The ship was seized for illegal loading of petroleum products believed to be crude oil, the report said.

The vessel had no clearance from Nigerian authorities to operate in Nigerian waters and all of its foreign crew members did not have valid documents to enter the country, it added.

The court ruling, which came after a three-year trial, also offers the seven convicts an option of paying a fine of 2 million naira (over $5200) each.