The police in Akwa Ibom have rescued 28 fishermen who were abducted by sea pirates in Akwakpa, Uruan council area of the State.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Olatoye Durosinmi disclosed this yesterday during an interaction with journalists in Uyo, the state capital.
CP Durosinmi said the fishermen were kidnapped by a five-member gang suspected to sea pirates.
He said the fishermen were rescued through intelligence, adding as soon as he got the report he drafted the marine officers who were able to rescue the victims at the creeks, where they were held hostage for over eight hours.
He explained that the pirates always pose as fishermen to carry out their nefarious act on unsuspecting fishermen
According to him, “the 28 men and women you see here are the people rescued by police marine officers. The victims at about 18: 00hrs yesterday were attacked on the sea by a five man gang pirates. They seized their boat and put them where they will not come out.
“These men of the underworld will pretend to be fishermen and we’ve actually caught five of them before and they are in detention, the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.
“The five armed gang pretending to be fishermen bumped into them and asked them to get into the boat. Fortunately, one of them had the phone number of the local government chairman who later alerted me. The usual practice is that they go out on Thursday and come back on a Sunday.
“They were there all through the night searching where they were and by 10:00hr my officers found them around a creek with their boats. As I speak, the detachments of the marine officers are still trailing the suspects.”