The Nigerian Navy, East
ern Command has revealed that it nabbed no fewer than 30 ships in the last six months at its operational bases of Port Harcourt, Bonny, Calabar, Ibaka, Oron and Ikot Abasi.
The flag officer commading (FOC) the Eastern Naval Command Rear Admiral Henry Babalola made this known during the regimental dinner organised after the annual sea exercise in Calabar recently.
Babalola said the ships were nabbed by men of the command while conveying adulterated fuel and other stolen petroleum products.
He explained that the arrests were made possible due to the constant patrol along the waterways, adding that they have also destroyed several illegal refineries within their operational areas in the last six months.
The FOC further said, “when we arrest a ship, we go further to investigate their patrons and hand them over to the relevant government agencies, like the Civil Defence and others for necessary action.”
On the sea exercise, Babalola opined that it was a normal routine inspection of the Navy to secure the economic assets of the nation and other multimillion dollars off-shore investments and platforms that generates income for the country.
“The importance of this exercise is that we continue to maintain a continuous presence in our maritime environment, to give confidence to legal and useful users of the maritime sector.
“Our presence at the sea is enough security for maritime operators. The exercise also helps us to know the status of our ships and machinery breakdown,” he posited.
According to him, the major security challenges they are facing is the issue of kidnapping along the waterways, and thanked the Chief of Naval Staff for allocating some new patrol boats to the command to help curb the ugly challenges.
He, however, assured that adequate security would be provided for legal maritime operators as they would not relent in their policing of the waterways.