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BY AGENCY REPORTER
The Nigerian Navy has impounded 31 bags of smuggled rice in Akwa Ibom.
The Commanding Officer, Forward Operating Base, Navy Capt. Suleiman Abdullahi, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, announced this while handing over the bags of rice to the Nigeria Customs Service, on Tuesday.
Abdullahi said that the 31 bags of rice were seized from smugglers on August 9, on Mbo River, during routine patrol.
Warning smugglers to stay out of the Nigerian maritime environment, Abdullahi said the suspects, on sighting the patrol team, abandoned the bags of rice and fled in order to evade arrest.
He disclosed that the operatives had arrested one suspected smuggler and impounded 61 bags of rice on August 5, stating that the Navy would curtail smuggling on the Akwa Ibom waterways.
Abdullahi said, “The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Auwal Gambo, has given a clear directive to Nigerian Navy to free the waterways of illegalities and other maritime crimes.
“In compliance, the Flag Officer, Eastern Naval Command, Rear Adm. Sanusi Ibrahim, has directed all Operation Bases within his area of responsibility to keep up with the directive.
“FOB Ibaka, while on routine patrol on August 9, around 17:55hours, along Mbo Rivers, our gunboats impounded 31 bags of parboiled rice suspected to have been smuggled into Nigeria from Cameroon while the suspects fled.
“I would like to use this opportunity to warn those maritime criminals that it is not going to be business as usual. They should desist from their criminal ways and engage in genuine businesses otherwise, the long arm of the law will continue to catch up with them.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Comptroller of Customs, Sector 1, Port Harcourt, Shehu Abubakar, received the rice.
Abubakar was represented by the Superintendent of Customs, Border Drill Patrol Team, Oron Axis, Mustapha Ahmed.
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