Their refinery was located in Akwa Ibom
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday arraigned four operators of an illegal refinery before a Federal High Court Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The refinery was located at Ohaobu-Ndoki village in Ukanagu Local Government Area of the state.
The accused persons Felix Nwosu, Sadau Isa, Aliyu Hassan and Usman Nuhu were arraigned on a four-count charge of conspiracy, illegal dealing and refining of petroleum products before Justice E. S. Chukwu.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges, while the defence counsel, B.B. Mfon applied for their bail but was turned down by the judge on the ground that he intends to conclude the case as quickly as possible.
The accused persons were arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) on March 2, at Ukanagu Local Government Area of the state. Three others, Sunday Udedike, Yusuf Lawal and Abdullahi Haruna, are at large.
Items recovered during the arrest included a 33,000 litre capacity truck loaded with diesel, 33,000 litre capacity DAF 85CA truck loaded with crude oil, two pumping machines, two barges, three speed boat engines as well as the installations that have been in operation for one year.
The illegal refinery was located close to a waterway through which illicit crude oil from barges could be easily siphoned into storage tanks for refining.
