31st March, 2014
The employer of the two British nationals arrested for an alleged plot to steal oil from a pipeline in Nigeria said they are “totally innocent” and should be released immediately.
Maritime security company Port2Port West Africa said the charges against Vincent Haywood and Piers Eastwood were baseless and that it was working with the Nigerian authorities to secure their release.
“The arrest of our personnel is completely unjustifiable,” company chairman Edward Aina said in a statement seen by AFP on Saturday.
“The allegations against them are patently untrue and we will utilise every legal process at our disposal to prove as such and get these dedicated, highly professional and totally innocent contractors released urgently.”
Former Royal Marine commandos Haywood, 32, and Eastwood, 39, were arrested on March 21 in Warri, southwest Nigeria, on suspicion of attempting to bribe a senior military commander.
The head of the Joint Task Force (JTF) of military and police in the oil-producing Niger Delta region said they and 12 technicians they had hired were planning to syphon fuel from a pipeline belonging to oil giant Shell.
Oil theft or “bunkering” is a major problem in Nigeria, Africa’s leading crude producer and exporter, and is estimated to cost the country some $6 billion (4.3 billion euros) a year.
The government is, however, accused of exaggerating the extent of the problem to cover up embezzlement.
The Britons’ company, which provides security for ships operating in the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Guinea, said they were working on a legitimate security contract at the time.
“Port2Port West Africa vehemently denies that its contractors were or ever have been involved in crude oil theft or illegal activity of any kind,” it said in a statement on its website.
Port2Port West Africa said the Britons were due to provide security to Dubai-based oil trading company Nimex Petroleum and its vessel the MV Crete during a trip from Warri across the Gulf of Guinea.
The two men were waiting to board the ship with seven Nigerian maritime police at a hotel in Warri when they were detained.
Nimex Petroleum Group chairman and chief executive Azmat Mahmood said the Crete required assistance as it had been attacked by pirates just days earlier.
The actions of the two contractors were above board “at all times”, Port2Port West Africa added.
The company said the men, whom it described as having an “exemplary military history”, were detained without charge for a week and denied consular or legal assistance.
Access had since been granted and they were in good health, it added