The Nigerian Navy on Sunday said its Naval Ship, NNS Soroh as part of its determination to curb its Area of Operation of illegal weapons before, during and after the off-cycle gubernatorial election on Friday 10 November 2023 by 2 am, raided a suspected sea robbers hideout.
Nigeriacrime.com gathered that the base acting on credible information, swiftly deployed her anti-sea robbery patrol team from one of its Naval Security Station (NSS 030) which is at Foropa community in southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
According to Commodore Adedotun Syo-Vaughan said, “On sighting the Nigerian Navy Patrol team gunboat the suspected sea robbers fled into the bushes.
“During the raid in Southern Ijaw, NNS Soroh special anti-sea robbery team further cordoned and searched the area and recovered, one general purpose machine gun (GPMG) with 100 links, 2 AK 47 rifles, one locally made long gun, 2 Tavor magazines, 11 rounds of 7.62 (NATO), 2 Cartridge rounds of pump action gun.
“Additionally, other recovered items include 2 200HP Yamaha Engine, 5 Baofeng Radio, a Small Techno Android phone, one GPS phone and 3x small techno phones as well as assorted camouflage uniforms.
“The camp was subsequently deactivated to deny the criminals any shelter within the vicinity.
“The efforts of NNS Soroh, their resilience and dedication to duty led to the success of the raid operation.
“Accordingly the Nigerian Navy under the able leadership of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla will continue to conduct such sting operations to resist and arrest criminals desperate to undermine the democratic process, disrupt public peace or breach the hard-earned Maritime Security during and after the off-cycle election period.
“The Service will continue to cooperate with stakeholders to achieve a peaceful Maritime environment critical for legitimate business by law-abiding citizens towards the national economic development and prosperity.
The statement reiterated that Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Soroh at Naval Base, Yenagoa will continue its effort to rid its Area of Operation of criminality, illegalities and illegally possessed weapons and has sustained operations and aggressive patrols geared towards curbing the menace of Sea Robbery and piracy as well as Crude Oil Theft (COT) within Nigeria’s Maritime Environment.
” The Base has maintained presence at sea and the deployment of surveillance infrastructure to monitor activities within its waters, thus maintaining the sanctity of Nigeria’s Maritime domain.”
In a similar development, the Nigerian Airforce on Sunday confirmed that two major air strikes on 8 November and 11 November 2023 undertaken by the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have led to the decimation of several terrorists taking cover at Ajigin and Banki Junction areas located in Borno State.
Director of NAF Public Relations, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet said the air strikes were in furtherance of efforts at clearing the remnant of terrorists and make them come to terms that their efforts at causing mayhem and disunity among law-abiding Nigerians are efforts in futility.
He said the air interdiction missions were conducted on their enclaves situated 1.9km South of Ajigin on 8 November 2023.
“The terrorists, who had hidden 4 gun trucks under thick shrubs had earlier perfected plans to attack friendly troops’ locations around Damboa and Wajiroko.
“During the air strike, 3 of the gun trucks were struck, as evidenced by the thick black smoke and fire from the trucks after the strike, while the last gun truck was observed fleeing the scene of the strike.
“The truck was subsequently tailed for about 26 Km and thereafter disappeared under a tree.
“The truck was subsequently struck and observed to be on fire with no sign of movement at the location.
“The destruction of the 4 gun trucks, along with the occupants, effectively degraded the capability of the terrorists to attack friendly forces and locals within the area.
“Air interdiction missions were also conducted at a location 7km East of Banki Junction on 11 November 2023.
” The location was a well-known terrorists’ enclave hitherto deserted but suddenly active with high terrorists’ activities and used as a logistics storage area and staging area to attack troops locations at Bank Junction.
“The need to attack the location thus became necessary. Accordingly, NAF aircraft were scrambled to interdict the location.
The aftermath of the strike revealed the destruction of the location with the logistics sites on fire.
“In an apparent display of desperation, confusion and at a loss on why they have continually been on the receiving end of the Nigerian military, the terrorists have continued to feel the firepower of both the air and ground forces.
“Indeed, the inability of these terrorists to move freely and at will is also attributed to the effectiveness of the operational synergy exhibited, especially by the air and ground troops, which should be commended.”