Illegal Bunkerers Arrested, Not Kidnap Incident – NSCDC

No kidnap incident occurred along the waterways in Bonny Local Government Area, instead some suspected illegal Bunkerers were arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kristina Reports has learnt.

Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC Rivers State Command, Ihemnacho Umeado disclosed this on Saturday, April 5, 2025 in a telephone chat with Kristina Reports.

He dismissed insinuations that a kidnap incident occurred, saying there was an arrest this morning by our gunboat unit along the Bonny waterways.

Another senior official of the NSCDC also revealed that “initially the news came as Civil Defence gunboat was used for an attack and kidnapping”, stating that “immediately the Corps had to refute the erroneous information, that it was arrest not attack”.

He added that sister security services including the Department of State Services, Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, among others were aware of the situation.

Recently, the various security agencies have ramped up their onslaught against illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the State, which has led to a scale up of the nation’s crude oil production and export profile.