The Nigerian Navy on Tuesday said that its sailors raided a pirate/kidnappers’ camp at Fununu, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, arresting two suspects.
During the raid, which was carried out on Saturday January 11, 2025 under the auspices of Operation DELTA SANITY II, the pirates/kidnappers were subdued after a gun duel which lasted for over 30 minutes.
Naval Spokesperson, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, said in a statement that “many criminals fled with gunshot injuries, 2 suspects (one male and one female) were arrested.”
The full statement by Commodore Adams-Aliu reads: “In furtherance of its commitment to rid Nigeria’s maritime domain of all nefarious elements, Nigerian Navy (NN) personnel under the auspices of Operation DELTA SANITY II raided a pirate/kidnappers’ camp at Fununu community in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Saturday 11 January 2025. This is sequel to the flag off of Operation DELTA SANITY II on Monday 30 December 2024 by the Honourable Minister of State Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri PhD in Rivers State.
“Since the flag off, several arrests and seizures have been made. In this instance, the suspected pirates/kidnappers, who use the camp as a hideout engaged NN personnel in a gun duel for over 30 minutes before succumbing to superior fire power of the Navy team. While many criminals fled with gunshot injuries, 2 suspects (one male and one female) were arrested. During the raid of the camp, the following items were recovered:
- One AK-56 assault rifle.
- Three locally fabricated guns.
- Five pump-action guns.
- One foreign double-barrel gun.
- Sixty Eight rounds of 7.62/39mm ammunition.
- Six round of 7.62/51mm NATO version ammunition.
- Twenty Five shotgun cartridges.
- Four empty AK rifle magazines.
- One national ID card.
- One Monie Point debit card.
- One MTB SIM card.
- One Itel phone.
- One Infinix smartphone.
- The sum of
N11,500 - One chainsaw engine.
- One chainsaw machine.
- One hand saw.
- One Airtel pack without SIM.
“he Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, hereby reiterates that the NN will continue to work assiduously to eradicate criminal activity in Nigeria’s maritime space.”