Troops of Operation Pulo Shield (OPS) formerly known as Joint Task Force (JTF), have arrested five suspected sea pirates and oil thieves in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The suspects were nabbed by the troops of Sector 2 who were on patrol on the Sangana Creek on December 21 and 22.
Parading the suspects at the headquarters of OPS in Yenagoa, the state capital, the Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC), Col. lsa Ado, named the suspects as Gabriel Abel and Ebiaredia Godday. Others are Samson Ezekiel, Gift Enihus and Richard Christian.
Ado also paraded four short guns, four cartridges, 12 mobile phones and other stolen personal effects allegedly recovered from the suspects.
He said the suspects and the recovered items were in the custody of the OPS for preliminary investigations before they are handed over to prosecuting agencies.
The alleged pirates were paraded a day after another seven-man gang of sea pirates attacked a local boat killing a 25-year old man identified simply as ThankGod, and injuring six other passengers.
The incident occurred along the Brass waterways, it was learnt. Some of the victims who spoke in Yenagoa said the incident took place at 2pm on Wednesday along the Borma rice farm axis of the Brass/Ogbia/Yenagoa route.
The manager of the boat, Mr. Kemelayefa Gabriel, said that they were on their way to Yenagoa from Brass when the bandits shot directly at the boat hitting Thankgod.
He said the gunmen appeared from a narrow creek along the waterways and started shooting at their boat.
He said: “In the process, a bullet hit ThankGod on the head and he died on the spot. After minutes of shooting at us, they stopped and entered the boat and started beating us with their guns, robbed us and sped-off afterwards.”
The Chairman of Maritime Workers Union (MWU), Mr. Lloyd Sese lamented the rising waves of pirate attacks on Bayelsa waterways.
He described the situation as crude and called on the federal government to come to their aid, as efforts by state government to curb the menace have not yielded any positive result.
He said: “What is baffling is the fact that sea pirates spend over three hours robbing one boat without any form of resistance from waterway security personnel. In some cases after robbing their helpless victims, they even spend time raping women and even force their victims to conduct prayer session on board the boat before leaving.
“As far as we are concerned, the situation has gone out of hand and it is time we invite the federal government to come to our aid.”
The body of late ThankGod who hailed from Igbomotoru community in Southern Ijaw LGA has reportedly been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Yenagoa.
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