Navy impound 642 bags of rice from smugglers in A-Ibom

By Harris-Okon Emmanuel

UYO—No fewer than eight suspected smugglers are now cooling their heels in the cell of the Nigerian Police at Oron in Akwa Ibom State even as 642 bags of rice have been impounded.

The suspects were nabbed by the Nigerian Navy Forward Operations Base (FoB), Ibaka at the weekend and handed over to the Nigerian Custom Service which subsequently transferred them to the Police for prosecution.

Commander,  FoB, Captain Yusuf Idris, who performed the handing over of the suspects, said the Navy would not relent in its fight against criminality on the waterways.

He said: ‘’In line with the existing cooperation between the Navy and the Custom, we are here to hand over another group of suspects who smuggled items into the country through Cameroun for prosecution.

‘’There is an improvement. In the last two months it was becoming a weekly affair because whenever we went out,we made arrest. But the Eastern Naval Command has told them to keep clear. And we have seen reduction in the level of criminality on the waterways. Under the leadership of the Chief of Naval Staff, it is a zero tolerant for all maritime offences’’.

The Assistant Comptroller of Custom, Oron Out Station, Auwal  G. Ali, commended the Navy for the collaboration which he stated was yielding fruits with the continuous arrest of suspected smugglers in the area.

Ali, who represented the Comptroller Eastern Command, Aliya Masay said: ‘’we wish to thank the Navy for a well done job. This is the third times we are here and the Navy is giving us what we expect. The Navy is assisting the Custom in fighting smuggling. However, the needful is to prosecute them for the offence. Once again, we are grateful for these efforts’’.

One of the suspects, Bruno Owobiakuno (45) said the Navy started shooting as soon as they were sighted close to the tank farm and they had to surrender to them.

‘’We have reached home and they arrested us at the tank farm. We have to obey them. We don’t have any argument to make with them. We just started the business just to make ends meet and be able to train our children in schools’’, he said.

Item recovered from the suspects included 642 bags of rice, two cotonou boats, four Yamaha outboard engines, water pumping machine and petrol.

 

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