The Nigerian Navy has stepped up its crackdown on militant and kidnapping networks operating across Cross River State’s waterways, recovering multiple boats and outboard engines during a series of coordinated raids along the Calabar creeks.
The Director of Naval Information, Navy Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, confirmed the operations in an official statement released to journalists in Abuja.
Naval troops conducting follow-up patrols at Dayspring Island — where a militant camp had previously been destroyed and a forward security post established — uncovered ten outboard engines hidden in surrounding bushes and inside a structure tied to a suspected militant. All recovered items were immediately secured.
In a separate but related operation, troops acting on fresh intelligence pushed into a creek near Akpamfi, where their advance forced suspected militants to abandon their positions and flee. Left behind were two fibre boats and a 200-horsepower outboard engine, all of which were seized.
Folorunsho described the recoveries as operationally significant, noting that watercraft and high-powered engines are the primary tools criminals rely on to carry out kidnappings, launch attacks, and evade security forces across the region’s river networks.
He said the sustained offensive had considerably weakened the militants’ ability to move freely, disrupted their supply chains, and stripped them of key safe havens deep within the creeks.
The Nigerian Navy said it remains fully committed to the campaign until criminal elements are completely cleared from the waterways. According to Folorunsho, the service will continue mounting pressure on identified hideouts to ensure that local residents, traders, fishermen, and other lawful users of the river routes can operate safely and without fear.
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