EKET—No fewer than 20 militants known as “Lacto Marine” in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom have surrendered arms to Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Militancy.
The leader of the task force, Air Vice Marshal Jim Gbum, announced this in Eket.
Gbum said the committee received the militant group at the Ibeno Jetty, adding that arms surrendered by them included six browning machine guns, rocket launchers and AK-47 rifles.
He said the militants responded to the Federal Government’s second phase of the amnesty programme for repentant militant groups.
He alleged that the group had been responsible for crimes in the high sea between Akwa Ibom and CrossRiver states.
Meantime, Mr Samuel Ayadi, Chairman of Artisanal Fishermen Association of Nigeira, Akwa Ibom chapter, has commended the Federal Government for extending the programme to those who did not embrace its first phase.
He said that the surrender by the group would bring the needed peace in the waterways in the state.
