(Ecofin Agency) - The Nigerian Federal High Court on Tuesday asked nine sailors to decide between jail and the payment of a substantial fine of $100,000 dollars, following convictions of oil smuggling.

The suspects five from Philippines and four from Bangladesh, were caught in March 2015 in Lagos Lagoon aboard the MT Asteris. The MT Asteris according to prosecutors was used to illegally store 3,423,097 tonnes of crude oil.

This sailors were each found guilty of four counts of illegal storage of crude oil by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court. Each count represents five years in prison which means that the nine suspects are to face a maximum of five years jail.

The government, however, has seized the MT Asteris vessel.

Nigeria loses billions of dollars every year to theft of crude from damaged pipelines as well as illegal refining of oil products. This oil is then sold on the black market, thereby denying Lagos of an expected $6 billion per annum in lost revenue.

According to Justice Buba it is the responsibility of the court to send a strong signal to Nigerians and non-Nigerians equally that Nigeria has laws and the laws are capable of being enforced.

“It is people like the convicts that have made Nigeria a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. The court must send a strong signal that Nigeria is a nation; not a nation of booty. It is not right for either Nigerians or foreign nationals to deny this country its God-given natural resources through illegal use”, he told Vanguard News.