Men Parading themselves as Naval Officers Arrested in Rivers State

The Nigerian Navy yesterday handed over 11 suspects who were arrested for parading themselves as Naval personnel to the Rivers State Police Command for possible prosecution. Outgoing commander of Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Port Harcourt, Commodore Sanusi Ibrahim, handed over the suspects to the officials of the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) of the State Command in the state capital.

Ibrahim said the suspects used navy uniforms and paraded themselves as ‘Merchant Navy’ with intent to defraud unsuspecting individuals and companies in the state and environs.

The outgoing Naval commander stated that the suspects were caught in the act by operatives of the 97 Special Operations Group (SOG), the Nigerian Air Force, Port Harcourt, who reported the matter to the Nigerian Navy.

He said, “On June 17, the Air Police of the 97 Special Operations Group, Nigerian Air Force Port Harcourt, arrested 11 civilians around Rukpokwu police checkpoint parading themselves as naval personnel.

“The air police later handed over the suspects to us (Nigerian Navy) to enable us conduct investigation to ascertain if they were truly naval personnel, among other details.

“During investigation, the suspects claimed that they were members of merchant navy, and which further findings revealed the organisation was fictitious.