Navy arrests 12 suspects, seizes 1,072 bags of rice

The Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, has arrested 12 suspects and seized 1,072 bags of 50kg smuggled rice, and two wooden boats. The Commanding Officer, FOB, Captain Peter Yilme said the arrests were made in two different operations, and that the Navy is determined to end smuggling […]

The Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, has arrested 12 suspects and seized 1,072 bags of 50kg smuggled rice, and two wooden boats.

The Commanding Officer, FOB, Captain Peter Yilme said the arrests were made in two different operations, and that the Navy is determined to end smuggling on the water ways.

Speaking yesterday in Ibaka during the hand-over of the items to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Yilme stated that the Navy will take the fight against smuggling to the communities by liaising with the people to fish out the perpetrators before they venture into the sea.

Yilme, who was represented at the ceremony by Lieutenant Commander Kabiru Yusuf, Base Operations Officer, FOB, said the two arrests involved eight suspects with 536 bags of rice, and four suspects with another 536 bags of rice.

“I hereby hand over two medium sized wooden boats laden with 536 bags of rice intercepted around Effiat waterways and Mbo river to the Nigeria Customs Service.

“The wooden boats along with its 12 crew were arrested at about 0345 and 2230 hours on Saturday, September 21, 2019, during a routine patrol by the Navy gunboats,” he said.

Receiving the 12 suspects and bags of rice from the Nigerian Navy, Deputy Superintendent of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alabi, Adedokun, commended the Navy for the cooperation between them.

Two of the suspects, a Cameroonian Pastor, Samuel Gregory with Hope of Assurance in Christ Ministry International, and a Malian, Amadu Bello Jalo, said they were innocent of the crime as they were only passengers on the boats.

Samuel Gregory said, “I came from Cameroon to attend a programme in Nigeria, organised by Prophet Omotola Jeremiah in Owerri. I never knew the boat I was entering carried some illegal goods. I only found out when we landed off shore. This is my first time in Nigeria”.

On his part, Amadu Bello Jalo, a carpenter in Cameroon, said he was on his way to Mali to visit his mother who was ill and had to pass through Nigeria, adding that he boarded the intercepted boat because he did not have enough money to take a speed boat.

He said, “I am Malian and I engage in carpentry work in Cameroon. I learnt that my mother was ill and was told to come home. I wanted to board a flying boat but I was told that the fare is 20,000 but since I didn’t have the money, the man said he would put me on a boat if I gave him 10,000. I did and he put me in the boat carrying rice. I did not know that it was a crime to carry rice or that the commodity was smuggled”.