A suspected pirate stronghold in the Foropa hamlet in the southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa was attacked on Friday by the Nigerian Navy Ship NNS SOROH.
Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, the Director of Naval Information, declared on Sunday in Abuja that the Naval Base in Yenagoa has continued its activities to combat piracy and crude oil theft.
He continued by saying that the activity on Friday was a component of NNS SOROH’s commitment to halt the spread of illicit firearms prior to, during, and following Saturday’s off-cycle Bayelsa governorship election.
He said that as part of the drill, the base sent a patrol squad against maritime robberies from one of its Naval Security Stations to the region.
The accused pirates took to the woods when they spotted patrol team gunboats from the Nigerian Navy.
One general purpose machine gun with 100 links and two AK-47 rifles were found after the area was cordoned off and searched by the special anti-sea robbery squad.
One locally manufactured firearm, two Tavor magazines, eleven NATO 7.62 rounds, and two pump-action pistol cartridge rounds were also found by the crew.
“Camouflage uniforms, five Baofeng radios, a small Techno Android phone, one GPS phone, three small Techno phones, and two 200 horsepower Yamaha engines were among the other items recovered,” he said.
According to Ayo-Vaughan, the camp was later shut down to prevent the offenders from finding a place to stay nearby.
The Nigerian Navy will keep carrying out these types of sting operations in an effort to thwart and apprehend criminals who are trying to sabotage democracy, disturb the calm, or jeopardise hard-won maritime security.
Ayo-Vaughan promised that “the service will continue to cooperate with stakeholders to achieve a peaceful maritime environment, which is essential for law-abiding citizens to conduct legitimate business.”
