Five Filipinos and four Bangladeshi men have been sentenced to 20 year in prison by a Federal High Court. The nine men were however given the option of fines amounting to N20 million each.
Axel Joseph Gibo Jabone, Juanito Camireno Infantado, Suarin Fernado Alave, Gatila Jaypee Gadayan and Rolando Jose Commendador; while the Bangladesh nationals are Md Zahirul Islam, Islam Shahinul, Islam Rafiqul and Shaikn Shibli Nomany were arrested in March 2015 in Lagos state.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that the nine men dealt in 3423.097 metric tonnes of crude oil which they stored in their vessel, MT Asteris.
The nine men did not possess licenses to deal in crude oil and contravened Section 1(19)(6) of the Miscellaneous Offence Act.
In addition, their vessel has been seized and forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.