'India high commission working for release of MT Maro crew'

The India High Commission in Nigeria is doing everything possible for the release of Jogesh Chandra Das, a marine engineer from Kolkata, and 10 crew members aboard MT Maro, deputy high commissioner Kaisar Alam, told IANS on Friday.

These people are reported to be languishing in remand over the past year for illegal entry into Nigerian waters. "The next hearing of the case is in October and we are doing everything we can for their early release," Alam said over phone.

According to Das's family, he has been disowned by the shipping company that actually sent him to West Africa on the vessel MT Maro and currently has no legal means to defend himself.

Two months ago Das got in touch with his family to inform that he had been arrested and imprisoned. His wife Soma and their daughter Shreyoshi, knew that his trip was "taking longer than expected" because of technical reasons.

But Das told his family in June during a telephonic conversation that he and 10 of his colleagues were arrested in July 2014 for transgressing on Nigerian waters during an emergency.

"We have no information except the little that he has divulged so far about his jail custody," Soma said from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

Das reportedly left Kolkata in October, 2013 to join the crew aboard the MT Maro.

The ship, carrying crude oil, underwent repairs before setting sail from Ghana but developed a snag on way to Cameroon. It was intercepted while entering the Port of Brass Terminal in Nigeria, a town 113 km from Port Harcourt in Bayelsa state, Nigeria, allegedly without permission to sail on Nigerian waters.

In a letter to his daughter, Das, who family members said he served in the Indian Navy, wrote that the Nigerian captain of the ship decided to anchor in his country because he was aware of "the danger of sea-robbery" in Brass.

Das also wrote that after his arrest, the Nigerian Navy referred the case to the country's Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) which demanded money from the Mumbai-based shipping company that owns the MT Maro.