Navy operatives of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Ibaka in Mbo local government area of Akwa Ibom State have busted a drug syndicate and arrested three suspected traffickers with large consignments of assorted contraband drugs and industrial chemicals.
Performing the handing over ceremony at the Base, the Commanding Officer (CO), Capt. Uche Aneke recalled that naval gunboats intercepted a wooden boat during a stop-and-search operation while on routine patrol around the Bendero and Uta Uyata general area.
Capt. Aneke explained that the seized boat ferrying the illicit items was coming from neighbouring Cameroon to Akwa Ibom when it was intercepted within the coastal waters of Nigeria.
He disclosed that the boat was laden with over 125 sacks of industrial chemicals (crystalline ammonia) and 62 cartons of different brands of contraband drugs.
The Commanding Officer listed the drugs to include 820 tubes of Pethidine (containing opium) and 24,800 bottles of Codeine syrup.
The three arrested suspects, along with the contraband drugs and industrial chemicals, he said were handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Akwa Ibom State Command, represented by Mr. Monday Jatau, the Deputy Commander in-charge of Narcotics.
Also, he stated that the industrial chemicals were handed over to the Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) represented by Mr. Abdulkadir Abubakar, a deputy superintendent for further investigation and possible prosecution.
According to him, the handing over was conducted in line with “the harmonised standard operating procedure on arrest, detention, and prosecution of vessels and persons in Nigeria’s maritime environment,” assuring that the boat and products were handled in accordance with extant Defence Headquarters’ (DHQ) directives.
He, therefore, warned oil thieves, smugglers and other maritime criminals to desist from perpetrating unwholesome practices within the territorial waters of the Eastern Naval Command to desist forthwith or be ready to face the full weight of the law when apprehended.
“Let me seize this opportunity to warn individuals or groups planning to engage in any form of criminality in Nigerian waters or smuggling illegal consignments into or out of Nigeria to desist immediately.
“Such criminals will be apprehended and duly prosecuted because Nigeria’s waters and coastal areas are not havens for illegal activities,” he warned.
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