OIL BUNKERERS

Attention: Sea Farers
Vanguard Online



JTF hands over 14 Filipinos to EFCC

Written by Samuel Oyadongha
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
The four teen Filipinos arrested by the Joint Task Force sometime in July for alleged involvement in oil bunkering have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigation and prosecution.
The embattled Filipinos were arrested on board MT Akuada by men of the JTF, also known as Operation Restore Hope with 150-160 metric tonnes of stolen crude oil at the Bight of Benin on the Atlantic fringe of Bayelsa State.
The names of the 14 Filipinos were given as Rey Chavez (captain), Nelso Corpin, Antonio Norgino, Tirso Olaviar, Jerome Competente, Joselin Gabion, Rexy Aldovino, Rito Bajoyo, Jun Garcenila, Judel Garcenila, Eugenio Mediano, Mark Dimaano, Jose Palimero and Louis Givesania.
It would be recalled that sometime in October, the operatives of the EFCC raised an alarm about the whereabouts of the suspects as they were allegedly granted bail by a court with conditions fixed at N50 million each.
The EFCC it was gathered at the time had included, among the puzzle to be solved, the release of the 14 expatriates at N50 million instead of the bail condition of N50million each and why the court cannot establish their whereabouts.
But the coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC) Lt. Col Rabe Abubakar who disclosed this yesterday said the JTF handed over the suspects in line with the rule of law and due process.
He noted that since the JTF arrested them through an effective strategy put in place to check economic crimes, “it is no longer lawful to keep them but hand them over to the appropriate agency to conduct further investigation and prosecute them.”
Lt. Col Abubakar who stated that the war on oil bunkering has reduced the level of criminalities associated with oil theft in the troubled region vowed that the security outfit would not relent in its offensive against criminals in the region, until it rids the region of bandits posing as freedom fighters.
The coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC) used the opportunity to assured Bayelsans living in the creeks to go about their normal business as the yuletide season approaches, stressing that the JTF working in collaboration with other security agencies is prepared to secure all lives and properties.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has confirmed that the Filipinos arrested for oil bunkering have been handed over to it by the JTF.
The Commission’s Spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi who confirmed this said the Filipinos would be arraigned tomorrow in Benin the Edo State capital.