Personnel of the Nigerian Navy’s Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Badagry have intercepted seven fibre boats loaded with smuggled foreign parboiled rice along the Badagry–Porto-Novo creek.
Security sources confirmed on Sunday that the interception took place on Saturday during a routine patrol by naval officers.
Upon sighting the naval team, some of the occupants reportedly abandoned the boats and fled into the water, while a few were apprehended at the scene.
“They were mainly boat operators used by the actual smugglers to carry out these illegal activities,” the source disclosed, describing the arrested individuals as “hungry boat boys” exploited by criminal syndicates.
As of press time, the Navy had not released an official statement regarding the operation.
However, local observers noted that the arrest highlights the increasing intensity of security patrols since the assumption of office by the current Commanding Officer of FOB Badagry, Captain Leye Omotayo.
Under Omotayo’s leadership, the base has ramped up 24-hour surveillance on the waterways, targeting smuggling operations and cross-border criminal activities.
Sources also credit growing cooperation between the Navy, other law enforcement agencies, and local communities for recent successes in disrupting smuggling networks in the region.
The Badagry–Porto-Novo axis remains a known route for illicit trade, particularly the smuggling of rice, which has been banned by the Federal Government to encourage local production.