A patrol team from Nigerian Navy Ship BEECROFT making routine rounds on the 11th of October 2023, aided by the state-of-the-art Maritime Domain Awareness Facility, the Falcon Eye Alignment, have successfully apprehended a wooden fishing boat laden with bags of rice in the creeks of Agbara, Lagos state.
Although the boat operators who are believed to also have been smugglers, abandoned the boat and fled upon sighting the patrol team of NNS BEECROFT, the vigilant men of NNS BEECROFT, secured the boat, which was taking in water, and off-loaded a total of 44 bags of parboiled rice.
With laid down procedure, the recovered bags of rice were transported back to BEECROFT Base and handed over to officials of the Nigeria Customs Service for further action.
The Nigerian Navy aims at upholding government policies by working with key security agencies to curtail illegal activities and also, empowering small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to flourish.
The action of the Nigerian Navy at stopping the movement of contrabands and particularly the prevention of importation of foreign rice into the country, is a step to encourage and bolster the efforts of local farmers towards revenue generation and empowerment for better economic and socially viable means of income and livelihood.
The Nigerian Navy under the watch of the Chief of the Naval staff Vice Admiral EI Ogalla, will continue to carry out her mandate of maritime security to ensure overall national security in the country.
