By: Admin
Luck has ran out of a member of a gang of sea pirates terrorizing the Bonny-Port Harcourt route as one of them was apprehended by the Marine Division of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the suspect identified as Clifford Dan George, a native of Asarama Community in Andoni LGA of Rivers State, has been moved to Port Harcourt on the orders of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan for further investigation.
The Bonny River, which is the main sea route between Bonny Island and Port Harcourt, has been faced with the challenge of sea pirates’ attacks on travelers, especially, as the yuletide season approaches.
The hoodlums attacked a passenger boat ferrying travelers from Port Harcourt to Bonny Island on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 in the evening hours, killing one and injuring several others.
Unfortunately, one of the sea pirates was not lucky as a collision between their boat and that of the travelers threw him overboard and had to be rescued and detained by the residents of the nearby village where the incident happened just as his accomplices fled the scene leaving him behind.
Officer-in-charge of the Marine Division of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in Bonny, Solomon Adeniyi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), while reacting to the situation said it was residents of the village that assisted in apprehending the suspect and later handed him over to operatives of the Marine Police.
According to him, his men responded to a distress call from the community on the morning of Thursday, November 26, 2020 where they took custody of the suspect and rescued the passengers, who they brought safely to Bonny, adding that the injured among them were referred to the hospital for treatment.
“The driver in question left Port Harcourt around after 6 O’clock in the evening. On his way coming – when he was approaching that tank side after Onne, that One-Man Village – that is where the sea pirates attacked him.”
“But their boat now collided with the sea pirates’ boat. The two boats collided. One of them was unfortunately thrown overboard. The one that was thrown overboard was held down by the villagers within the community there till the following day.”
He however, stated that the pilot of the attacked speedboat will be charged to court for criminal endangerment, for putting the lives of the passengers at risk, stressing that he was operating outside approved timelines on the maritime corridor and without a passenger manifest.
“The boat union did not have any information because the boat sailed late without a manifest. It was at daybreak that they now called us and we now went to the village and arrested the suspect and also brought the passengers down to Bonny. Some of them were injured and we had to refer them to the hospital.”
“It was a 10 passenger boat but without a manifest we are not able to ascertain how many people boarded that boat because the boat loaded illegally at the Port Harcourt jetty. The suspect has been transferred to Port Harcourt and is currently in police custody.”
