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.
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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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He said the case appeared to be simulation. He said the places they saw the boat twice were exact danger places for attacks.
“This is just in case, maybe, there was some kind of a plan because nearly all the kidnap incidents occurred where there was an engine failure or simulation in front of a river mouth, which now resulted in the kidnap as they come out and then pick their victims and carry on.
“We encountered the same boat again simulating another engine failure in front of another river entrance. Simulating another engine failure – as far as I’m concerned, I’ll use simulation – in a place that is also known for kidnap activities.
“It was at that point that we decided to evacuate the passengers onto our own boats and continued with the movement”, he added.
Mohammed advised the coastal state governments and LGAs to urgently consider deploying ferries on the waterways, especially, the Bonny-Port Harcourt sea route as a safer, sustainable, and subsidized means of transportation.
“It’s obvious that these speedboats are worn-out, rickety, and dangerous for passengers as at now. It’s time for the State Government and the Local Government to review the situation in the interest of the people and deploy ferries to convey passengers on this route.
“The ferries would be safer, sustainable, and also subsidize it to make it affordable. The fare is exorbitant. The boats are unserviceable, unsuitable, and not fit for purpose at all. It’s time the government intervened and availed the security agencies the support they needed to ensure passenger safety and waterways security.”
The Bonny River, which is the primary sea route between Bonny Island and Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, has lately been challenged by incessant attacks on travelers commuting the route, with about 20 persons kidnapped and later released, thus creating an atmosphere of trauma for both travelers and their families or acquaintances.
Public outcry over the trend spurred the security agencies comprising the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army, Marine Police, the Department of State Services, among others to instantly respond to the menace and restore sanity along the sea route.
Nonetheless, the Commanding Officer of the NNFOB is concerned that despite the coordinated efforts of the security agencies, it might not yet be good news for commuters on the sea route except urgent interventions were made in terms of deploying ferries, ensuring convoy sails, and more robust intelligence sharing.
He reiterated that commitment of the security agencies in Bonny LGA, especially, the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, to the safety of travelers on the Bonny-PH sea route, noting that “Bonny people are important to us and their safety is a critical issue we are focused on.”
He said the Navy desired safe sea travels for people of the coastal States but that the State Governments and Local Councils must play their parts.
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