The Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, in the Mbo Local Government Area has seized 40 bags of smuggled rice and impounded a boat used for smuggling the items.
The Commanding Officer, FOB Ibaka, Navy Captain Mohammad Kabiru, who disclosed this on Wednesday while handing over the smuggled items to the Nigeria Customs Service at Ibaka, said the hoodlums jumped into the sea to evade arrest on sighting naval personnel, who were on a routine patrol of the area.
He reiterated the directives of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Auwul Gambo, to maintain zero tolerance for all forms of criminalities on Nigerian waterways and gave an assurance that the base would not relent in putting an end to illegalities in Nigeria’s maritime borders.
Kabiru stated, “An incident happened on February 15, 2022, around 6pm during our usual patrol to weed out all forms of illegalities in our areas of responsibility. We came across a boat suspected to be a smuggling boat and upon sighting our gunboat, the crew jumped into the water and swam to the nearby creek, thereby escaping arrest.
“We have no option but to tow the boat to the base; the boat is here at the jetty with the outboard engine; the content of the boat has been discharged, which is 40 bags of 50kg rice.
“So, I Navy Captain Muhammad Kabiru, Commanding Officer of FOB Ibaka, on behalf of officers and men of FOB Ibaka, I hereby hand over the content of the boat, 40 bags of 50kg rice, to Superintendent Kikems Danbana of the Nigeria Customs Service, Joint Border Patrol Team, Oron axis, for further investigation and possible prosecution.”
The commanding officer warned smugglers to relocate from Nigerian maritime borders, stressing that it would not be business as usual for them.
“I will like to use this opportunity to warn those maritime criminals that it is not going to be business as usual. They should desist from their criminal ways and engage in genuine businesses, otherwise the long arm of the law will catch up with them,” he added.
Receiving the bags of rice, Danbana said the Customs would do everything possible to stop smuggling in the country.
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