MT Heroic Idun crew sues Nigeria over detention

The crew of the MT Heroic Idun, the mega Oil tanker arrested for violations in Nigerian waters including attempting to steal crude oil, have sued the Nigerian Navy.

This is coming on the heels of a court order by the Federal Government remanding the crew members to remain on the ship.

The Nigerian Navy has received a court summons in a case instituted in Abuja by the crew members of the MT Heroic Idun, the mega tanker that was escorted back to the country for gross violations in Nigeria’s maritime domain.

The 27 crew members, who are all foreigners, are standing trial before a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on 3 counts of conspiracy, stealing and attempting to deal in crude oil.

The Naval authorities say the Motor Tanker that evaded arrest on August the 12th committed several infractions including:

Attempting to deal in export crude without a license, entering the restricted zone around an oil field without authorization and falsely accusing a Nigerian Navy Ship of piracy.

MT Heroic Idun was handed over to the Nigerian authorities by Equatorial Guinea on the 11th.

The vessel was escorted by the Nigerian Navy until it arrived at Bonny Offshore Terminal 2 the next day.

It will be recalled that the Nigerian Navy and authorities had declared the Mega Oil Tanker MT Heroic Idun wanted following an attempt to allegedly steal over 1 million barrels of Crude Oil from the Bonny Export Terminal belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The Tanker was alleged to have evade arrest by the Nigerian Navy ship, NNS Gongola, and escaped into the territorial waters of the Equitorial Guinea and was anchored in Malabo until it was returned to the Nigerian authorities and brought to Nigeria on the 11th of November.

The crew of the ship had raised a non-existent piracy alarm against the Nigerian Navy ship NNS Gongola.