Navy nabs 4 suspected rice smugglers in A/Ibom

The Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state has arrested four suspects for allegedly smuggling of 220 bags of rice from Cameroon into Nigeria.

The suspects and the wooden boat carrying the smuggled rice were seized during a routine patrol by navy gunboats around the Effiat waterways in Akwa Ibom state.

Parading the suspects in Ibaka yesterday, the Commanding Officer, Forward Operating Base, Capt. Peter Yilme, who handed them over to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), explained that the navy is committed in making sure perpetrators of the illegal trade were crippled.

Yilme said that since the smugglers have failed to relent from their ways, the navy will give them no breathing space until the illegal trade is completely eradicated.

The commander who was represented by the Base Operations Officer, Lt. Commander Kabiru Yusuf, said their action is in line with the directives of the chief of naval staff.

“On behalf of the commanding officer, I am handing over 220 bags of suspected smuggled rice to the Nigeria Customs Service,” he said.

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Receiving the suspects and 220 bags of rice from the navy, the Deputy Superintendent of Customs, Alabi, Adedokun commended the navy for the cooperation that exists between the two services which have resulted in the frequent arrests of smugglers and other economic saboteurs in thestate.

In an interview, one of the suspects, Godwin Nseyoh, 29 years from Mbo council area in Akwa Ibom, said he did not know that rice smuggling is illegal.

“I am a fisherman in Effiat community. I didn’t know that bringing in rice from Cameroon is wrong,” he regretted.