Seven sea pirates have been killed in a shootout involving officers of the Nigerian Navy NNS Victory Command at the Oron Pilate Island in Calabar at the early hours of Tuesday, passing as a mark of progress in the fight against sea piracy and bunkering in the nation’s waterways.
In recent times, sea piracy and bunkering has posed a major challenge to the security agencies in Nigeria.
According to an eye witness, the battle between the two groups which spared only one of the sea pirates alive and was later arrested, was a fierce one with the pirates in action with sophisticated arms but was overpowered by the navy.
The navy team was on patrol escorting a Cameroonian vessel the BRENDA CORLETT at the early hours of today, when they were accosted by a couple of speed boats around Parrot Island opening fire towards their direction.
The boat officer, Lieutenant Linus Osuman and also the Captain of the Vessel Richard Nkollei who were on board during the gun battle, informed Channels Television that luck ran out on the pirates, when one of the boats developed an engine failure which led to the arrest of a suspect, Bassey Bassey who claimed to be a Niger Delta ex-militant, a fisherman by profession and hails from Akpabuyo local government area of Cross River state.
Commander of the NNS Victory, Commodore James Oluwole, says the waterways require daily surveillances to keep pirates and bunkers on check, and the Nigerian Navy is stopping at nothing to achieve this feat.
The suspect according to the Naval boss will be handed to the appropriate agency for prosecution to serve as a deterrent.
