MEND claims killing of 4 policemen in Bayelsa

Also that MEND is “in contact” with the abductors of Captain Pikus Viktor, chief engineer Melnikov Slava and crew member Frederick Villamor taken off a Dutch registered reefer, “MV Breeze Clipper”, anchored off the coast of Port Harcourt on February 28.   Despite the claims, the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta have […]

Also that MEND is “in contact” with the abductors of Captain Pikus Viktor, chief engineer Melnikov Slava and crew member Frederick Villamor taken off a Dutch registered reefer, “MV Breeze Clipper”, anchored off the coast of Port Harcourt on February 28.

 

Despite the claims, the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta have remained silent about the identity of victims of the incident which available sources has said led to the loss of four of its personnel including a Lieutenant Colonel said to be the commander of the security outfit in Brass unit.

Weekly Trust efforts to get the JTF’s spokesman, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha react to the new development as claimed by MEND did not yield result as at the time of filing this report. But, the JTF said it has deployed local divers yesterday in search of the corpses of its men who were killed early hours of Thursday by yet-to-be indentified gunmen along the Brass-Ogbia waterways, in Bayelsa State.

The killings however might not be unconnected with the activities of suspected oil bunkerers who are unhappy with the federal government’s decision to set up a new face for the JTF to checkmate their illegal businesses.

To this end, Antigha told journalists that the security outfit had already declared the officers missing, just as it has employed the service of local divers to search for their corpses believed to be drowned in the water. “JTF has declared missing the four personnel reportedly attacked by the gunmen and has engaged local divers to search for their corpse. We have deployed our men in search of criminals that carried out the attack.”

The state government through its spokesman Daniel Iworiso-Markson has however said the administration would not tolerate criminalities anywhere in the waterways of the state. He said: “We will not tolerate criminality. Their time is over. In a few weeks time, the issue of criminality will be brought under control. We are holding series of meetings to bring the miscreants to book.”

On his part, Chief Lloyd Sese of the Maritime Union in the state said the biggest challenge in the creeks had been the notorious activities of the gangsters even as he hoped that all hands will be on deck to bring the culprits to book. Though the police had retrieved the corpses of four of its marine men who fell to the bullets of the daredevils, Police PRO Eguaevon Emokpae has vowed to ensure that the perpetrators do not go unpunished.

MEND has been inactive since a good chunk of its militants agreed an amnesty with the government in 2009. But last month the group resurfaced when it said it had attacked an oil pipeline owned by an Italian firm. Militant activity in the Niger Delta, whose coastal areas pumps out most of the nation’s more than 2 million barrels a day, has slowed to a trickle since the amnesty.

Under the amnesty thousands of militants gave up their weapons, joined training schemes and drew stipends. Security sources say remaining gangs in the Niger Delta do not have the capacity to do the damage seen in the past. But a resurgence of militant activity is one with a political dimension to the apparent revival of MEND.