The Nigerian Navy Forward Operation Base in Bonny, Rivers state has rescued 20 passengers, including women and children, on the Port Harcourt-Bonny maritime route.
Maksum Mohammed, Commander of the NNFOB in Bonny, revealed this to reporters on Monday, saying the Navy had discovered a new tactic used by pirates to abduct passengers.
Mohammed stated that intelligence indicated that some boat operators may be collaborating with pirates to launch attacks.
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He explained that boat operators would typically fill their vessels to capacity, then feign engine trouble near the river entrance in the middle of the high sea. Under the guise of making repairs, pirates would suddenly appear, take control of the boat, and transport the passengers to hidden creeks, where ransom demands would follow.
He claimed that the most recent occurrence involved a boat carrying 20 passengers, including infants, and that it nearly killed everyone.
He said: “This is a clear case of wilful endangerment of passenger safety. Why would any mariner in his right senses sail with passengers on board a boat whose engines were outright faulty and unable to sustain an hour’s journey?
“And then, we’re also dealing with recent cases of attacks on the river; what if these criminals had seen and approached them and taken them captive?
“What leverage would they have had to escape their assailants? It’s quite unfortunate that hapless passengers could be exposed to avoidable risks and for the exorbitant amounts they pay?”
Mohammed went on to explain that the case appeared to be a simulation, and that the two locations where they spotted the boat were perfectly vulnerable sites for attacks.
He said, “This is just in case, maybe, there were some plans because nearly all the kidnap incidents occurred where there was an engine failure or a simulation in front of a river mouth, which now resulted in the kidnap as they come out and then pick their victims and carry on.
“We encountered the same boat again simulating another engine failure in front of another river entrance. Simulating another engine failure – as far as I’m concerned, I’ll use simulation – in a place that is also known for kidnap activities.
“It was at that point that we decided to evacuate the passengers onto our boats and continued with the movement.”
Mohammed recommended coastal state governments and local government areas to urgently consider deploying ferries on waterways, particularly the Bonny-Port Harcourt sea route, as a safer, more sustainable, and subsidised mode of transportation.