Smugglers Arrested, 759 Bags Of Rice Impounded In Akwa Ibom

Yahaya Balaribe, 32, from Borno State; Godwin Owoyemi, 23 and Michael Aderemi, both from Igbokoda, Ondo State have all been arrested by the Nigerian Navy for illegal importation of 759 bags of rice from Cameroon through Akwa Ibom State.


Naval officers at the Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State made the arrest and the culprits were on Wednesday handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for further probe.

The suspects were reportedly arrested on Tuesday at about 3a.m, at high sea following a tip-off as they navigated into Nigeria’s maritime area.

The Commanding Officer, FOB, Ibaka, Navy Captain Yusuf Idris, warned that the Navy will not tolerate any smuggler using the Nigeria maritime environment for any dubious business or operations