 |
| Chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba |
The personnel of the Nigerian Navy (NN), weekend engaged a 20-man gang of suspected Niger Delta militants in a gun duel. At the end of the operation about 17 of the suspects were feared killed while three was arrested.
A foreign merchant vessel, MT NORTE, that was earlier hijacked by the criminals and its crew members were rescued off Lagos water. The operation was said to have been jointly carried out by officers of the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force.
The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Sidi-Ali Hassan Usman who made this disclosure in a statement he issued said at the weekend they got a report MT NORTE was hijacked by 16 pirates off Nigerian waters.
According to him, at the time of the hijack, the vessel was loaded with about 17,000 metric tones of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
"This incident triggered off NN’s emergency procedure. Consequently, the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral IE Ibas dispatched two of his patrol crafts, namely NNS ANDONI and NNS IKOT ABASI.
"Both vessels engaged the pirates in Hot Pursuit. Meanwhile, the assistance of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) was sought which carried out sorties and fed the NN with detailed information on the position of the vessel" he added.
The FOC further revealed that as soon as details of the hijack became clearer, same was promptly disseminated to other Operational Commands of the Nigerian Navy located in the Western and Eastern regions for close monitoring and further necessary action.
Admiral Usman explained that he ordered NNS DELTA in Warri and Forward Operational Base (FOB) FORMOSO at Egweama Brass, to scramble vessels to the scene of action.
He revealed that while FOB FORMOSO dispatched 2 of her patrol boats, NNS BADAGRY (P177) and NNS BOMADI (P176), NNS DELTA vectored NNS OBULA, the Manta boat and the Rapid Response Boat (RRBs) to join the rescue.
" The shadowing of the vessel MT NORTE continued throughout the night of Friday 16 Aug 13 till the evening of Saturday 17 Aug 13.
"During this period, all efforts to prevail on the pirates to drop their ignoble scheme were to no avail. Instead, they opted to proceed further into the deep sea.
"When finally they agreed to return to harbour, the hijackers demanded for a drop zone off Forcados River, about 15nm from the coast.
"Ironically at about 8pm of 17 Aug 13, the hijackers agreed to disembark from MT NORTE at a designated position, having observed the overwhelming NN presence around the hijacked vessel.
"On arrival at the drop off point, the militants still refused to disembark from the vessel as earlier agreed. They were obviously playing for time for darkness to set in. Nevertheless, they finally agreed to disembark from MT NORTE at about 8.45hrs on 17 Aug 13 on the condition that only one NN vessel would remain in the vicinity of MT NORTE.
"This request was ignored as all the NN vessels in company were ordered to “darken ship.” Thereafter, a total of 16 militants disembarked from MT NORTE instead of the 20 that were earlier claimed to be onboard. The Captain also confirmed that no other militant was left onboard and no crew member of MT NORTE was taken hostage. After disembarking from the ship, the hijackers made a fast move towards the coastline. Accordingly, NNS BADAGRY immediately engaged the boat in hot pursuit. Efforts to get the hijackers to stop and surrender proved abortive as they engaged NNS BADAGRY in a gun battle.
"The gun battle between NNS BADAGRY and the pirates lasted for
about 30 minutes after which they were over-powered by the NN gunboat and four of them surrendered by raising up their hands. On taking over the speed boat, it was discovered that most of the pirates were killed in the cross fire. The 4 survivors, their belongings and 3 AK 47 rifles (with about 6 magazines of 120 rounds of ammunition) were recovered and brought onboard NNS BADAGRY" he said.
He however stated that the NN gun boat was unable to recover the dead bodies of the pirates as the speed boat sank very quickly as a result of the damage sustained during the gun battle.
"Nonetheless, photographs of the dead were captured. In reviewing this operation, credence must be given to the coordinated nature of the response by the various participating Units and Commands of the Nigerian Navy. Also, the outstanding performance of the Maritime Patrol Aircraft from the Nigerian Air Force, gave impetus to efforts to keep the hijacked vessel under constant watch" he said.
He said that it is pertinent to stress that the successes recorded during the operations can be attributed to NN’s relentless efforts towards the achievement of the Chief of the Naval Staff Strategic Guidance 01, in line with the Transformation Agenda of the federal government, within the context of
Vision 20,20 20.
"It would also be recalled that recently, the Central Naval Command, the youngest of the three Operational Commands in the Nigerian Navy, arrested several vessels engaged in crude oil theft and other illegalities in our waters" he added.
Similarly, many illegal refineries have been burnt and destroyed by patrol teams from Units under command while suspected criminals associated with these crimes, were handed over to other agencies of government for further investigations and prosecution.
In a related development, MV SOA was arrested on 29 Jul 13 by a patrol team from NNS DELTA. At the time of the arrest, the vessel was said to have engaged in ship-to-ship transfer of petroleum product suspected to be illegally refined AGO with MT ALI-REZA BEY.
Although MT ALI- REZA BEY absconded, its Captain and Chief Engineer were arrested and taken custody. They are currently assisting with investigation on the matter. Similarly 4 crew member of MV SOA are also in custody while the vessel is alongside NNS DELTA Jetty. MT ALI-RIZA BEY has since been declared wanted by the Nigerian Navy.
No comments:
Post a Comment