Ese was arraigned before Justice I.M. Sani of Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, on one count charge bordering on illegal dealing in petroleum products without the appropriate license.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned Ahweyevu Ese, a suspected oil thief, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Ese was arraigned before Justice I.M. Sani of Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, on one count charge bordering on illegal dealing in petroleum products without the appropriate license.
The charge reads, “That you Ahweyevu Ese, on or about the 19th of August, 2019, at Okrika, Rivers State, within the jurisdiction of this court did deal in petroleum product to wit: loading illegally refined automotive gas oil into your Mack truck with registration number FST 320 XS without lawful authority or an appropriate license and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 1(17) (a) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, CAP M17 of the Reverse Edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria), 2007 and punishable under Section 1 (17) of the same Act."
He pleaded "not guilty" to the charge.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel, F.O Amama, prayed the court to remand the defendant in Port Harcourt Custodial Centre pending the commencement of trial.
However, the defense counsel, G.C. Oraekelem, urged the court to grant the defendant bail but was opposed by the prosecution.
Justice Sani ordered the remand of the defendant in the EFCC custody and adjourned the matter until July 21, 2020, for determination of the bail application.
Similarly, Martin Ajare was also arraigned before Justice Sani on a two count charges bordering on email compromise, impersonation, and internet fraud.
The suspect is allegedly the leader of a loose syndicate of cybercriminals engaged in Business Email Compromise and associated cyber intrusion.
He is alleged to have hacked into email accounts of different companies and persons in the United States of America.
One of the count reads, “That you Martin Ajare, sometimes between 2016 to 2019 in Port Harcourt within the jurisdiction of this court did unlawfully use your email.com addresses viz; [email protected] and [email protected] to spy, store, access, monitor, and intercept by technical means, the email addresses and cyber communications of members of the public in web-based mail with the intent to engage and benefit from business email compromise (BEC) and associated cyber intrusions, thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 9(1) Of Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 12(1) Of the same Act."
He pleaded "not guilty" to the charges.
In view of his plea, the prosecution prayed the court for a short date to prove its case.
Justice Sani thereafter adjourned the matter until July 21, 2020 for trial.