MT Heroic Idun: Court To Commence Foreign Crew Members’ Trial On Tuesday

The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, will on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, commence the trial of 16 foreign crew members of the arrested super vessel, MT Heroic Idun.

Recall that MT Heroic Idun was arrested on August 12, 2022, in Equatorial Guinea waters, shortly after fleeing Nigeria on the fake alarm that it was being pursued by sea pirates.

The Court had on November 14 and November 15, 2022, ordered that all the 26 crew members of the vessel be remanded inside the ship until the commencement of their trial.

The 16 foreign crew members, who are citizens of Poland, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan as well as 10 others were charged to Court by the federal government on three-count.

The charges bordered on unlawful entrance into the Akpo Oil field, raising false piracy alarm to avoid arrest and an attempt to lift Crude oil without clearance.

Some of the charges read: “Conspiracy to commit a maritime offence and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 10 of the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019 and punishable under section 12 of the same Act.”

Speaking on the development during a recent visit to Port Harcourt, the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Awwal Ibrahim Gambo, expressed the hope that the trial of the vessel and its crew members will discourage others from engaging in such unpatriotic acts.

Gambo said: “This is to majorly discourage any would-be saboteurs within or without our great country that come to steal our common patrimony, which is the crude oil we are talking about here, without a proper nomination from the NNPC and other regulatory authorities.”