5 Pinoy seamen accused of stealing barrels of oil

Five Filipino seamen were arraigned before a court in Ghana for allegedly stealing 73,900 barrels of crude oil worth $7 million.

News site Ghanian Chronicle reported over the weekend that the crude oil belonged to the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited.

Arraigned were engineers Epifacino Moran Jio, Iloefonso Pagay Pama; Felix Borre Climaco; and captains Leonardo Planes Abrinica and Danilo Bagasol Bueno.

The five worked for Saltpond. Epifacino remains at large.

The court presided over by Justice Ofori-Atta adjourned the case on the request of an attorney general who was served with a habeas corpus order.

Musah Ahmed, counsel for the accused, filed the habeas corpus writ against the attorney general to compel him to produce four of the accused Filipinos.

The court has not yet taken the plea of the accused who were charged with stealing. They were arrested last February 6 in Lagos, Nigeria, and were brought to Ghana.

Initial investigation showed the crude oil was loaded on a vessel commanded by Jio, which left Ghana.

The barrels of oil have yet to be retrieved.

The Court has adjourned hearing for the case until February 26. - GMANews.TV

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