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Thursday, March 28, 2024

JTF Launches Manhunt for Bakassi Militant Leader

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Following its successful rescue of 28 workers of an oil servicing company, Sinepoc at the territorial waters of Bakassi on the Nigerian side of the peninsula late last week, “Operation Pulo Shield”, the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) that carried out the raid has declared leader of the militant group that took the workers hostage, Lato Marine, wanted. He wanted for leading insurgency in the Gulf of Guinea and involvement in smuggling, illegal oil bunkering and piracy.
The activities of his group have in recent times become unwholesome hence he is being wanted to answer for his economic crimes, the Task Force said.
Just as the Joint Task Force is on the trail of Lato Marine, it has rescued one of the workers whom out of fear took to his heels when the military men invaded the camp where the militant leader took them to at the nearby Akpabuyo Local Government Area.
Commander of the JTF, Major General Johnson Ochoga, said Sunday that “the 28th person has been found. So, all of them are safe. The one that was not immediately seen has been picked up and he is sound and safe.
They have been handed back to the oil company, Sinopec.
“The last person was rescued at Akpabuyo. The 27 others were rescued from the Lato Marine’s camp in the creeks close to Ikang. The whole oil workers were kidnapped when they were going to Sinopec’s worksite located in Akwa Ibom State”.
As at Saturday when the abducted oil workers regained their freedom, Lato Marine, 29, was nowhere to be found hence he is being wanted with Gen. Ochoga simply saying the “militant leader is on the run and is hereby declared wanted. He is not a friend to any one of those 28 Nigerians taken captive and this is not the first of its kind.”
Narrating their ordeal in an interview, one of the victims, Boniface Christopher revealed that in a commando style that speaks of precision in planning and execution, the militants rounded up their three boats on their way to work at Coco River after telling them to lie face down and collected their raincoats before tying their faces.
“As we lied down inside the boat, they now drove us to a place we don’t know with our boats and their boats later on. They asked our driver not to drive any more because he does not know the direction of their camp and one of them that was armed took over the driving”, he said.
But the JTF in a related development has denied allegations that the militant group in question was one those groups agitating for the self determination of Bakassi people.
The Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Olufemi Ogunjimi, described the group as criminal gang that has nothing to do with the group agitating for the liberation of Bakassi people.
Admiral Ogunjimi said the gang had been into indiscriminate shooting and violence at Ikang and through this commotion extorts money from motorists, residents and other people even as it engages in illegal oil bunkering, kidnap as well as constant harassment of innocent citizens who make use of the waterways to the Republic of Cameroon.
He revealed that February this year, the group attacked security operatives where the naval officer and three ratings were killed and had been responsible for sabotage and oil bunkering on the water ways, including crude oil theft.
Ogunjimi said the raid had been underway for quite sometime now but was stalled due to failed attempts at resolving the matter peacefully, adding that the JTF has the mandate to flush out the criminals as their action was causing embarrassment to the image of the country.
He said, “People should not read wrong meaning into what is going on. They could be hearing gunshots and other things like that and think there is war. There is no war. It is just an exercise to flush out the miscreants from that area in Ikang.
“They have constituted a nuisance and embarrassment in relation to maritime safety and have impacted negatively on our security and well-being. They attack innocent seafarers and rob them of their possessions. The criminals harass them to extort money from them. They coerce people on land also.
“They have also constituted nuisance to the shipping community along our waterways. In fact before any ship come in or go out they have to see them. They have caused mariners to pay huge sums of money to them. They kidnap, kill and attack innocent seafarers including security agents.
“They are responsible for sabotage and oil bunkering on our water ways and this includes crude oil theft. So we the JTF and the Eastern Naval Command have the task of flushing them out of their camp and that is on-going now.”

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