Russian sailors interrogated in Nigeria in arms smuggling case
MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) - The Russian crew of the Myre Seadiver cargo ship, which was seized in Lagos in October on suspicion of arms smuggling, have been interrogated by Nigerian police since Tuesday, and the questioning will continue into Thursday, a spokesman for the ship's owner said on Wednesday.
"They have been interrogated since yesterday. In other words, yesterday was spent on this, there have been interrogations all day long today, and there will be more interrogations tomorrow. First of all there are 15 of them, secondly it's being done without haste, no one's in a hurry there," the spokesman told Interfax.
He denied reports that the Russian sailors have been put in cells. "It would have been impossible to put them in cells because the police station is in the center of the city. A suitable facility has been chosen and that's where they've put up the sailors. That facility is a gym. Our lawyer has been working there since early morning," the spokesman said.
He said Myre Seadiver's owner, Moran Security Group, had provided the police with all the documents that it had allegedly made available to the agent before.
"The detectives were very surprised because the agent is claiming that they have received no documents. In actual fact, the available documents show absolutely clearly that the agent was involved in all the dealings, that is financial transactions," the spokesman said.
He added that a copy of correspondence confirming that the agent officially notified the Nigerian navy about Myre Seadiver's visit and received permission for the ship to call at the port.
The Myre Seadiver with a 15-member 15 Russian crew was seized at the Lagos port on October 19. Nigerian media said 14 Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, 42 other rifles and more than 8,500 pieces of ammunition had been found aboard. Today the vessel is moored at one of Nigeria's naval bases.