Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) SOROH at Naval Base, Yenagoa raid of suspected sea robbers’ hideout has yielded in the recovery of a general purpose machine gun and two AK-47 riffles among other dangerous weapons, reports page3news.com.ng
Page3news.com.ng reports that the raid was in an effort to rid the Navy Area of Operation of criminality and illegalities before, during and after the governorship election in Bayelsa state.
According to Commodore AO Ayo-Vaughan, Director of Information in a statement perused by page3news.com.ng, “NNS SOROH as part of its determination to curb its Area of Operation of illegal weapons before, during and after the off cycle gubernatorial election had on Friday 10 November 2023 by 2am, raided a suspected sea robbers hideout. The base acting on credible information, swiftly deployed her anti-sea robbery patrol team from one of its Naval Security Station (NSS 030) which is at Foropa community in southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.”
He stated that the suspects on sighting the Nigerian Navy Patrol team gunboats fled into the bush.
In the words of Commodore AO Ayo-Vaughan, “the Base has sustained operations and aggressive patrols geared towards curbing the menace of Sea Robbery and piracy as well as Crude Oil Theft (COT) within Nigeria’s Maritime Environment. The Base has maintained presence at sea and the deployment of surveillance infrastructure to monitor activities within its waters, thus maintaining the sanctity of Nigeria’s Maritime domain.”
During the raid in Southern Ijaw, NNS SOROH special anti-sea robbery team further cordoned and searched the area and recovered, one general purpose machine gun (GPMG) with 100 links, 2 x AK 47 rifles, one locally made long gun, 2 x Tavor magazines, 11 rounds of 7.62 (NATO), 2 x Cartridge rounds of pump action gun.
Other items recovered include 2 x 200HP Yamaha Engine, 5 x Baofeng Radio, Small Techno Android phone, one GPS phone and 3x small techno phone as well as assorted camouflage uniforms, and the camp was subsequently deactivated to deny the criminals any shelter within the vicinity.
The Navy Director of Information added that the efforts of NNS SOROH, their resilience and dedication to duty led to the success of the raid operation. “Accordingly the Nigerian Navy under the able leadership of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla will continue to conduct such sting operations to resist and arrest criminals desperate to undermine the democratic process, disrupt public peace or breach the hard earned Maritime Security during and after the off cycle election period. The Service will continue to cooperate with stakeholders to achieve a peaceful Maritime environment critical for legitimate business by law abiding citizens towards the national economic development and prosperity.”