Three soldiers and four civilians declared missing last Friday in Bayelsa State may have been killed by sea pirates terrorizing the Nembe waterways.

Villagers going for fishing found five corpses believed to be of the missing persons floating on the river on Sunday. The remaining two were yet to be seen as at the time of filing this report.

The three soldiers in mufti and four civilians were travelling from Obioku in Nembe Local Government Area last Friday and few hours later, they were declared missing when their boat could not be located after a search party combed the entire waterways.

Daily Sun investigations revealed that some fishermen raised alarm when they discovered five bodies floating on the river, prompting the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) 73 Battalion in Bayelsa to swing into action immediately it was contacted on the development.

The Commander, Lt.† Col Chris Musa who confirmed the discovery of the bodies said he had already dispatched a team to the area to identify the bodies.
Musa ruled out attack on the soldiers by militants, stressing that they could have been victims of pirates attack.

ìAs of the time I am talking to you. We have been told that the villagers have discovered five bodies floating on the river and I have sent a team there to identify if the bodies include those of our men. But I can tell you that there was no gun duel between them and any group as they were in mufti travelling. They could have been victims of sea pirates,î he said.

Meanwhile, the Action Congress (AC) in Bayelsa State has condemned the rise in crime rate in the state.
Citing the disappearance of the three soldiers in Nembe, invasion of Sagbama police station by hoodlums and the shut down of the Tebidaba oil flow station, the party described the incidents as ìsad, worrisome, most unfortunate and a security threat to the existing calm and relative peace of the state.î
AC in a press statement signed by Miriki Ebikibina tasked security agents to live up to their responsibilities to protect lives and property in the state.

On the curfew imposed in Sagbama, AC commended the local government chairman for his swift reaction, adding that the curfew should be reviewed as normalcy returns to the area.
The party called multinational oil companies to respect Memorandum of Understanding with host communities in the course of their operations to avert unnecessary confrontation.