Three top Nigerian naval officers were arraigned in a military court today over their alleged involvement in the disappearance of an oil tanker that had been impounded for smuggling stolen crude oil.
The African Pridetanker was impounded last year with 11,000 barrels of illicit oil, but the ship went missing from navy custody in August.
Three rear-admirals, Francis Agbiti, Samuel Kolawale and Anthonio Bob-Manuel, appeared before a court martial in Lagos, and the judge overruled a defence objection to the composition of the court.
Thirteen Russian crew members were charged after the tanker was originally impounded in October last year, the largest seizure ever made by Nigerian security forces. Their trial continues.
Organised criminal syndicates siphon about 100,000 barrels, worth about $5 million, every day from Nigerian oilfields and industry officials have long maintained that senior government and security officials are involved.
The lucrative trade has helped ethnic militants in the Niger Delta buy high powered weapons, which has raised the death toll from fighting in the vast wetlands to about 1,000 people every year.