Captain of seized oil tanker charged

THE captain of the oil tanker, chartered by a Singaporean company and laden with K40 million worth of suspected stolen crude oil from Bougainville’s Loloho, was charged yesterday with eight counts related to the Customs Act.
East New Britain police commander, Supt Sylvester Kalaut said police and Customs slapped Moe Hein, 44, of Yangon, Myanmar, with a bail fine of K50,000.
He is in police custody until he pays up the bail money.
He was charged with, moving oil, which was state property and subject to the control of Customs, not reporting to Customs in Bougainville 24 hours after the vessel’s arrival at Loloho, failing to answer to Customs’ questions regarding the ownership of the vessel, leaving Loloho without getting a certificate of clearance and threatening a Customs officer to clear the ship, smuggling oil in a vessel he was in charge of, and evading tariff and duty fees. 
Meanwhile, the 21 crew members have all been charged for breaching the Migration Act.
Ten of them, from Yangon, appeared before the Kokopo District Court yesterday for being in PNG without a valid entry permit.
Through their lawyer, Robert Asa of Warner Shand Lawyers, they (crew) denied the charge that they were illegally in the country.
They maintained that as seamen, they did not require entry permits.
Their case has been adjourned to tomorrow for trial.
The remaining 11 men, including the two charged last Thursday for having in their possession pornographic material, were placed under arrest on the vessel and will appear in court tomorrow to answer their charges and also for trial.
The two had pleaded guilty to possessing pornographic materials at the district court last week and were released to the ship after paying their court fines of K1,500 each.
It is understood that the crew remain under arrest on their vessel outside Rabaul wharf to safeguard them from anyone who may want to tamper with the oil laden vessel and also to prevent any oil spill in the Simpson Harbour.
They would be there until all charges are laid and processed accordingly under the Customs and Immigration laws.