Boats carrying 170 cartons of ‘smuggled’ turkey seized by Navy

Operatives of the Nigerian Navy have arrested five wooden boats allegedly carrying 170 cartons of smuggled turkey.

The intercepted boats and products were handed over to officials from Western Marine, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), by the Commander of the Forward Operations Base (FOB) in Badagry.

The Commander, Captain Tamuno Senibo, stated that they were seized along the Badagry waterways around 1am while naval men were on patrol.

According to him, the arrests followed a raid of creeks between Gbaji and Badagry by operatives attached FOB in Badagry.

Senibo said that on sighting the naval men, the criminals jumped into the water and swam away.

READ ALSO: GHANA: Security forces rescue 2 Canadian hostages

The frozen turkeys, which were reportedly concealed in the boats, were being smuggled into Nigeria from Benin Republic.

Speaking on the new collaboration between the military and paramilitary, Senibo noted that, “the action of my men goes to show that the fracas which originally existed between the military and paramilitary is now a thing of the past.

“The Harmonized Standard Operating Procedure (HSOP) recently launched by the President is working.

“It is based on that we went after the smugglers, seized their items and now we are handing over the seized items to Customs in line with our roles to assist other government agencies at peacetime.

“Similarly, on March 20, last year, we handed over 6000kg of weeds suspected to be cannabis allegedly being smuggled into Nigeria. The seized items were also handed over to officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further investigation and prosecution.

“We also handed over 300 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol to operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC).

“My advice to criminal is for them to stay away from the country’s waterways, as there will no longer be any hiding place for criminals. They should turn a new leaf in their own interest.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now