Four officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are feared dead following an ambush by gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates, in Bakana community in Rivers.
A resident of the community who spoke on condition of anonymity told NAN in Port Harcourt on Saturday that the incident happened in the early hours of Friday.
The resident said the officers were shot dead on the Bakana River in Degema Local Government Area by sea pirates.
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“Two of the victims who are Muslims have already been buried according to Islamic rites,” the eyewitness added.
Reacting, the spokesman of NSCDC in Rivers, DSC Olufemi Ayodele, who did not admit or deny the killing, said the command would issue a statement as more facts unfold.
Meanwhile, a group, the Natural Oil and Gas Supplies Association of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State chapter, has commended the efforts of security agencies in tackling oil theft in the state.
The group commended the efforts of the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for effectively taking the war against oil thieves to the den of the perpetrators, noting that the action had stemmed from incidences of oil sector fraud in the state.
The state chairman of the association, Mr Sam Osung, said on Friday that the NSCDC had fought the oil sector illegalities in the state to a standstill in the last five months.
Osung, a former Head of the Surveillance and Intelligence Monitoring team of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria for Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, said the sector would have been completely cleansed of the scourge if all the hands of the industry stakeholders were on the deck.