Nigeria's anti-graft agency says nine men have been sentenced to 90 years in jail each over illegal oil trade in the oil-rich West African nation. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission spokesman Femi Babafemi said in a statement Monday that a federal court in the southern city of Asaba convicted two Ghanaians and seven Nigerians for conspiracy and illegal oil trade Friday.
He said the court also ordered the seizure of the ship on which they were arrested May last year. He said it contained 83 metric tons of stolen oil products. Oil theft in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta runs into the hundred of thousands of barrels a day. Analysts say the area has seen a growing trend of oil tanker hijackings as pirates target legal and illegal oil shipments moving out of Nigeria.
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