26 Foreigners Plead Not Guilty To Unlawful Entry, Piracy

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has set January 10 and 11, 2023, to commence trail of the 26 Foreigners arraigned by Federal Government on three-count charges.
The Federal Government arraigned the crew members and its crude carrier, MT HEROIC IDUM, on three-count charges, bordering on unlawful entry into Akpooil field, raising false piracy alarm to avoid arrest, and an attempt to lift crude oil without clearance.
The 26, all male crew members, were arraigned before Justice Turaki Mohammed, following the dogged operation by Nigerian Navy, which saw the runaway vessel with capacity of three million litres brought back alongside the crew from Equatorial Guinea.
When the case was called, last Monday, the prosecuting Assistant Chief State Counsel, Abidemi Adewumi-Aluko, said that it was not possible to produce all the 26 defendants in court on the same day.
However, he requested that 16 of them present take their plea while the remaining 10 crew members appear, yesterday, to take their plea as the ship could not be left unmanned.
Counsel to defendants, Udoka Ezeobi, pleaded that the crew members be allowed access to medical needs while being detained on board the ship, and also be allowed access to their lawyers.
The presiding judge, Justice Turaki Mohammed, after listening to the counsel, ruled that the 26 defendants be remanded in the vessel, and adjourned commencement of trail to January 10 and 11, 2023.
Speaking earlier to newsmen before the trail began, last Monday, Captain of the vessel, Mr. Danuj Meheta, denied that they were in the oil field to steal any crude oil.
Meheta, who is an Indian, claimed that there was a mix-up in their documentation in entering the Nigerian territorial waters.
He clarified that the moment they were accosted, they immediately returned to Equatorial Guinea, where the Nigerian Navy came to seek their return to Nigerian waters, for alleged violation of Nigerian laws.
Speaking with newsmen outside the courtroom, yesterday, the defendants ’lawyer, declined to speak further on the matter but hinted that necessary documents would be presented when the trail begins in January.