Dealers of fish and crayfish at the Marina Beach in Calabar have expressed worry over the incessant robbery attacks on them by sea pirates along the Ikang-Bakassi waterways.
The Chairman of Uwana/Afikpo Sea Food Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, Mr. Samuel Okoro, said this during a chat with newsmen in Calabar on Friday.
He said that members of the association had continue to face robbery attacks at sea whenever they travelled to buy goods from the Bakassi fish market.
Okoro, who also said that the union had been in the business for over 50 years, added that they had enjoyed a smooth business atmosphere, but regretted the sudden robbery cases at sea.
“On the 17 of June 2016, over 29 of our members who were returning from Bakassi after buying crayfish and fish were robbed at sea by suspected pirates.
“These suspected pirates collected over N400,000 cash from them and seized their boat.
“They went away with the boat and it later capsized. Our members lost their goods worth over N15m.
“Also, the boat that capsized belongs to the union. The boat cost us over N30m.
“This huge loss has caused hardship to us. Some of our colleagues usually borrow money from the bank for their businesses, how do they make re-payment now?
He appealed to the navy and the maritime police to strengthen their sea patrol in other to scare away the ugly activities of the pirates.
According to Mr. Kenneth Ezenwa, a member of the association, whenever they are attacked by suspected sea pirates, they keep demanding for millions of naira as ransom before their goods are released to them.
“We are begging the federal and state governments to come to our aid. We have lost a lot to activities of the suspected sea pirates.
“Some of our members are still in the hospital because of the `shock’ that our boat capsized into the river with goods worth over N15m and the boat itself costing about N30m.
“Some of us have been pushed out of the market because we have lost all our fortunes to the activities of suspected sea pirates.”
It was observed that business activities in the beach have dropped due to the incessant robbery of the traders at sea.
The beach market is a hub where fish and crayfish dealers from other states of the country usually come to buy the product for wholesale and retail purposes.
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