After nine months of incarceration, Nigeria has finally released the crew of the VLCC The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker and its crew were arrested by Equatorial Guinea forces over alleged crude oil theft, and then returned to Nigeria<\/a><\/span> for further investigations.<\/p>\n The 2020-built 300,000 dwt vessel was supposed to load a cargo of crude oil in Nigeria\u2019s Akpo terminal on August 8 last year but was delayed, and later that day approached by a ship that did not have its automatic identification systems (AIS) switched on, claiming to be Nigerian Navy.<\/p>\n After several attempts to identify the vessel failed, the VLCC escaped from the area and out into international waters under suspicion of an attempted piracy attack. A few days later, at the request of the Nigerian navy, the vessel was interdicted by a navy vessel from Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n The vessel had a total crew of 26 persons. 15 crewmembers were taken ashore and had been held in detention at Malabo for many months while the remaining crewmembers were left on the ship.\u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, after much campaigning, the ship\u2019s owner has been ordered to pay a nominal fine, and all crew have been sent back to their homes across the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tHeroic Idun<\/span>, who were accused of attempting to lift oil from an offshore platform and held without bail since last August.<\/p>\n