Eleven men suspected to be fake naval officers have been arrested in Rivers State.
The suspects were said to have been parading themselves as navy personnel with different ranks before they were apprehended around the Rukpokwu Police checkpoint.
The outgoing Commander NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Sanusi Ibrahim, who disclosed this on Wednesday while handing over the suspects to the Rivers Police Command, explained that they (suspects) disguised as “merchant navy” with the aim of defrauding the public and some companies in the state.
Ibrahim stated that the Nigerian Air Force had earlier arrested the suspects.
The Air Force, according to Ibrahim, handed over the fake naval personnel to the Nigerian Navy.
He said, “On June 17, the Air Police of the 97 Special Operations Group, Nigerian Air Force Port Harcourt, arrested 11 civilians around the Rukpokwu police checkpoint parading themselves as naval personnel.
“The Air Force police later handed over the suspects to us (Navy) to enable us to ascertain if they were truly naval personnel, among other details.
“During investigation, the suspects claimed that they were merchant navy personnel, and which further findings revealed the organisation was fictitious.”
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