The two and their eight Nigerian accomplices are to remain in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to re-appear on April 1, 2015. 

 

The court advised counsel for George Opata Okrah, a freight forwarder and Joel Yaw Attah, a shipping agent, to rather go to the High Court to seek bail for his clients.

 

It also ordered the police to expedite investigations into the case as the “liberties of the accused persons were at stake.”

 

Implicated

 

The two Ghanaians were implicated in the case after police investigations revealed that they connived with the eight Nigerians to hijack the oil tanker with the intent to share the booty.

 

They appeared before the Adjabeng Magistrate’s Court together with the eight Nigerian pirates.

 

The Nigerian  pirates are Molih Williams, Molih Klinsman, Peggy Aki, Ebiyaibo Amos, David Jacobs, Apetimiyi Onyinie, Piano Saniyo and Picolo John.

 

The police have mounted a search for three other Nigerian accomplices who are currently at large.

 

The three, who were said to be involved in the hijacking, have been identified as Marcus Olaide Oladapo, Captain Mike and Abaiyi, all sailors.

 

Argument for bail

 

The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Patrick Hanson, told the court that the police had sent the document on the accused persons to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice and asked the court to remand them.

 

However, counsel for the two Ghanaians, Mr James Odartey Mills and Mr Reynolds Twumasi, said the continued detention of their clients, who were only agents of the complainant, was an infringement on their basic human rights.

 

They stated that as family men, being held in the BNI custody had adversely affected them, especially their health, and therefore prayed the court to grant them bail.

 

Previous order

 

At the court’s last sitting on March 8, 2015, the court ordered the BNI to ensure that counsel for the accused persons had access to their clients two hours between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday every week until the police conclude their investigations.

 

Facts

 

According to the prosecution, the complainant in the case is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Maxweir Limited, which operates the oil tanker, MT Mariam, while the eight pirates are all unemployed from Nigeria.

 

On January 17, 2015, the MT Mariam set sail from Lagos in Nigeria to Lome in Togo.

 

The accused persons attacked the crew of MT Mariam and offloaded the cargo onto another vessel marked MT Invictus.

 

The complainant, with a marine vessel tracking device, located the hijacked vessel heading towards Ghana’s territorial waters.

 

The leader of the pirates, Captain Mike, managed to get the complainant on phone and threatened that he would use the vessel for another operation in Liberia.

 

“However, the Ghana Navy patrol team, on receipt of a distress call, proceeded to rescue the victims and arrested the pirates,” the prosecution said.

 

According to the prosecution, Okrah, who was a freight forwarder, and a good friend of Captain Mike met in the early part of January this year to discuss the hijacking of a loaded vessel with oil from Nigeria.

 

“During their meeting, they discussed the need for a vessel to take delivery of the oil and his benefit after the oil is sold. The two also agreed to give Attah US$75,000 for the use of the MT Invictus after the sale of the oil,” he said.