The Nigerian Navy on Tuesday paraded
four suspected sea robbers who had allegedly hijacked a barge (huge boat) MV
Crow, on August 14, 2013 at Escravos River located on the Gulf of Guinea.
The Commander, NNS Beecroft,
Commodore Chris Ezekobe, said while addressing journalists at the Defence Jetty
in Lagos that shortly after the hijack, the navy was alerted by the Nigerian
Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
He said, “We were alerted by NIMASA’s
Regional and Maritime Awareness Centre and we pursued the vessel to Aiyetoro in
Ondo State. When we circled her, there was no sign of life on board. We called
and radioed several times but there was no response. Of course, our suspicion
was aroused and then we fired shots into the air. Once they heard the shots,
the sea robbers came out and threw their weapons into the water.”
Ezekobe said in a bid to secure the
nation’s waters, the navy recently acquired four Shaldag and four Ocean boats
and three mantra class boats to patrol the waterways.
He said, “If the acquisition of more
vessels are maintained, our waters would be safer. The International Maritime
Bureau has listed our country as the second next to Somalia and we are working
assiduously to change that perception.
“But it is pertinent to state that
our challenge in Nigeria is sea robbery as opposed to piracy which is obtained
in Somalia. We have over 6,000 creeks between Lagos and Calabar and it is
easier for the sea robbers to attack and slip back to the creeks.”
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