Naval operatives attached to the Foward Opations Unit (FOB), Western Naval Command, yesterday, raided some criminal hideouts in the creeks of Badagry, Lagos State.
At the end of the operations, five wooden boats used by suspected smugglers were intercepted.
When it was searched, 170 cartons of foreign poultry products allegedly being smuggled into the country from Benin Republic into Nigeria were recovered.
The items were said to have been carefully concealed inside the wooden boats being ferried into the country.
Speaking with journalists during the officials handing over of the smuggled products to officials from the Western Marine of the Nigeria Customs Service, the Commander of the Forward Operations Base, Captain Tamuno Senibo, said that his men intercepted the seized items along the Badagry waterways.
Captain Senibo said that on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at about 1a.m, while his men were patrolling the creeks sighted some suspected smugglers.
He said that on sighting the naval men, the criminals jumped into the waters and swum away. According to him, his men gave the suspects a hot chase but they came back to secure the boats.
“The action of my men goes to show that the fracas which originally existed between the Military and Para-Military is now a thing of the past. The Harmonized Standard Operating Procedure (HSOP) recently launched by President Mohammadu Buhari 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 the Nigeria Customs. Our role is to assist, other government’s agencies at peace time.
“Similarly, on March 20, 2018, we handed over 6,000 kg of weeds suspected to be cannabis allegedly been 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 Defense Corp (NSCDC) at the same time.
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