They have also arrested eight suspected rice smugglers, among them a 16-year-old.
Parading the suspects and the subsequent handing over to the Nigerian Immigration Service with the contraband goods, the Commander of NNS Victory, Commodore Idi Abbas, said that in the first operation last Friday, the patrol team intercepted two fibre boats while approaching Parrot Island each laden with about forty bags of foreign parboiled rice suspected to be smuggled from Cameroon.
Commodore Abbas revealed names of suspects as Orisamakin Ademibo, Victor Effiong Eseme, Bassey Sunday and Joseph Asuquo who he said are all Nigerians.
He added that the NNS Victory patrol team last Sunday, around Tom Shot Island Breakwaters by Agbana-West along Calabar Channel intercepted another wooden boat with 1482 bags of foreign parboiled rice suspected to have been smuggled from Cameroon.
According to him, the wooden boat
smuggled the bags of rice from Dimbola Fishing Port in Limbe in the Republic of Cameroon heading to Oron in Akwa Ibom State before they were intercepted with four members.
He revealed the Oron bound rice smugglers as Effiong Asuquo Edet, Nathan Andrew Samuel, Victor Okon Asuquo and Peter Samuel Hezekiah.
Abbas further rolled out his achievements since he assumed office having effected several arrests which includes11 suspects, five boats, eight outboard engines and over 2000 bags of foreign parboiled rice, adding that the estimated street value of the seizure is N113.6m.
He warned smugglers and criminals to stay away from waterways of his area of operation.
