The Nigerian Navy (NN), Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka, in Mbo Local Council of Akwa Ibom State, has vowed to take the fight against smuggling in the riverine area of the state to the communities.Commanding Officer, FOB, Captain Peter Yilme, stated this yesterday while parading suspected smugglers before journalists in Ibaka.
According to him, this new approach would mean the operating base liaising with the communities to fish out the perpetrators before they venture into the sea for the illegal trade.Yilme, who spoke while parading 12 suspected smugglers, 1,072 bags of 50kg smuggled rice and two wooden boats seized from them, said their arrests were made in two different operations, and that the Navy was determined to end smuggling on the waterways.
The commander, represented by Lieutenant Commander Kabiru Yusuf of the FOB, said the two arrests involved eight suspects with 536 bags of rice, and four suspects with another 536 bags of rice.Deputy Superintendent of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alabi Adedokun, who received the suspects and the seized items, commended the Navy for the co-operation existing between them. Read more