BUSINESS DAY
The Nigerian Navy at the Bonny Town, Rivers State says its officers have recued 20 passengers, including women and infants on the Port Harcourt-Bonny sea route from being kidnapped.
Maksum Mohammed, a Navy Captain and Commander of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (NNFOB) in Bonny, in a telephone chat, told newsmen that the Nigerian Navy, had uncovered a new style by pirates to abduct passengers.
He said intelligence suggested that some of the boat operators might be working with the pirates to simulate attacks.
He said the boat operators would load fully, get to the entrance of a river on the water highway, fake engine problem, and as they would be fidgeting with the engine, pirates would swoop on them and evacuate the passengers into the creeks and demand ransom.
He said the latest incident showed a boat loaded with 20 passengers including infants. It almost turned scary or even fatal.
According to the task team commander, the team was conducting an Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaisance (ISR) mission of the general area between the Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne and Dawes Island in Okrika LGA when it came in contact with an outboard-powered engine speedboat which was stranded on the sea.
He added, “The team waited out on the speedboat to fix its faulty engine and let it continue its sail to Bonny, only to encounter it again and after evaluating the situation decided its engines were apparently unfixable in the circumstance, shut it down and transloaded its passengers to the Navy fastboat and conveyed them to Bonny.”
Speaking with newsmen on the incident, the NNFOB Commanding Officer expressed serious concern about a tragedy that was averted.
He said for the boat to be found twice waiting at river entrances twice was a dangerous signal which forced the team to react by taking control and moving the passengers out of the marked area.
He said, “This is a clear case of willful endangerment of passenger safety. Why would any mariner in his right senses sail with passengers on board a boat which engines were outrightly faulty and unable to sustain an hour’s journey?
“And then, we’re also dealing with recent cases of attacks on the river; what if these criminals had seen and approached them and taken them captive? What leverage would they have had to escape their assailants? It’s quite unfortunate that hapless passengers could be so exposed to avoidable risks and for the exorbitant amount they pay?”
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