‘Rivers Marine Police Need More Gunboats To Combat Piracy’

The Rivers State Police Command says the Marine Police Department of the command needs more gunboats to combat piracy in the state.
This is against the backdrop of last week’s pirate attacks on two Bonny  passengers boats, causing panic in the locality.
Speaking in a radio programme in Port Harcourt, Police Public Relations Officer, Rivers State, Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, said the two gunboats provided by the state government had been judiciously put into use by the command.
He said that the command’s marine unit only had two serviceable gunboats which, according to him, were not enough to combat the menace of piracy in the state.
He said the provision of more gunboats to the marine unit would assist in tackling piracy in the state
DSP Omoni said it is the duty of the marine unit to patrol the waterways across the state and ensure safety of lives and property.
Although he acknowledged the fact that no arrest had been made by the marine police and the Nigerian Navy on the incessant pirate attacks on the passengers in the waterways, he said the Command was doing everything humanly possible to curb criminality in the state.
The Tide reports that incessant pirate attacks in the Bonny waterways affect the socio-economic activities of the state as most travellers have abandoned Bonny Island for business.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing Bonny State Constituency, Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Abiye Pepple, has condemned the pirate attacks on passengers plying the route.
He appealed to the security agencies in the state to beef up security and save lives and property along the Bonny waterways.