…Hijack Boat With 10 Passengers Onboard
By ERIC MOORE
Armed men suspected to be sea pirates 5 hijacked a passenger boat with 10 passengers onboard on Monday morning in Rivers State.
Pentoks News gathered that the passengers were coming from Bonny to Port Harcourt when the gunmen struck.
According to sources, the abduction occurred along Docks Island in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Sources said the sea pirates have not established contacts with relatives of any of the victims.
Details about the operation was sketchy.
But, the State Police Command has confirmed the incident and the Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, has deployed operatives to ensure release of the victims.
According to the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police (SP), the police boss has mandated the personnel to ensure the kidnappers are apprehended and prosecuted.
The incident occurred less than a week after members of the Rivers Commercial District of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), sent a protesting delegates to Governor Siminalayi Fubara over the incessant sea pirates’ activities along the Bonny to Port Harcourt waterways.
They formally drew the attention of the state government to their plight and sought immediate intervention to curb the menace.
During the protest, Fubara, who was represented by Head of Rivers State Civil Service, George Nwaeke, frowned at the attacks on boat operators and sea travellers by pirates on sea routes in the State.
He warned that his administration would no longer tolerate such criminality.
The governor reassured the commitment of his administration to the security of lives and property of all residents, indigenes and non-indigenes alike, by making sure that they can go about their genuine and productive activities without fear of molestation.