The Nigerian Navy Thursday said it foiled attacks on two merchant ships in Lagos and Bayelsa waters.
It said that the troops who foiled both attacks were deployed for a regional maritime sea exercise tagged “Exercise Obangame”.
Naval Chief of Transformation, Rear Admiral Begroy Ibe-Enwo who made this disclosure at the end of a weeklong yearly regional sea exercise also said that a combined effort from navies from the West African sub region led to the arrest of about eight persons who had allegedly hijacked a fishing trawler off the coast of Togo.
Ibe-Enwo however failed to disclose the identity of the concerned vessels, date and exact location of the said attacks.
In a separate development, the Nigerian Navy has announced the arrest of seven suspected oil thieves and seizure of about 280,000 litres of diesel allegedly stolen from pipelines.
Executive Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Capt. Victor Choji, who paraded the suspects before newsmen on Thursday in Onne, Rivers State, said they were arrested aboard a ship named MT Araba.
According to Choji, the suspects were arrested along Bonny on Dec. 21, 2017 with 280,000 liters of product suspected to be diesel.
He said the suspects have been in the custody of the Navy, undergoing preliminary investigation and had told the investigators that they were contracted to deliver the petroleum product to a company in Port Harcourt.
Choji said the Navy had concluded its investigation on the issue would hand over the vessel, product, and suspects to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further action.
The captain of MT Araba, Ishola Adeniyi, said that they lifted the product from an undisclosed source.
He said that they were on their way to deliver the product to A & S Oil and Gas Ltd in Port Harcourt when they were arrested by naval personnel.
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