LAGOS (AFP) – A court has jailed seven Nigerians and two Ghanaians for dealing in illegal petroleum products, a lucrative illicit business in Africa’s largest oil producer, the anti-graft agency said Tuesday.

The suspects were sentenced to 10 years on each of nine charges filed against them by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The sentences will run concurrently.

The agency said the court “has convicted and sentenced to 90 years each two Ghanaians and seven Nigerians who were charged … for conspiracy and illegal dealing in petroleum products.”

The judge in the city of Asaba in the oil-producing Niger Delta region also ordered the forfeiture of a vessel said to be Greek-owned and used for the illegal business, it said. The suspects had been arraigned in June 2010.

Stolen crude and illegally refined petroleum products are regularly exported and sold on the lucrative black market.

Thieves often sabotage pipelines in order to gain access to crude, resulting in oil spills.