Parading the suspects at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Chief of Naval Training and Operations Rear Admiral Henry Babalola said the naval team was highly professional and was cautious to avoid fire outbreak.
Babalola, who added that the operation was coordinated from the naval headquarters in Abuja, hailed the cooperation by neighbouring navies.
He stated that the two crew members were “not necessarily missing”, adding that a mother rogue vessel was sighted by the naval team that went to rescue the tanker.
“The team that went for the operation sighted a mother rogue vessel with the two pirates and two kidnapped crew members. The rogue vessel is not in Nigeria at the moment. It is somewhere around Equitorial Guinea and contacts have been established with the authorities there to ensure their release.
“The hijackers opposed boarding and were armed, but our men were able to overpower them. When they realised that naval men had gunned one of them, others went into hiding in the engine room of the vessel, but were later arrested,” he said.
The captain of the rescued tanker, Krisna Pillea, who said he had a crew of 18 persons, including two persons from the South Korean firm, added that his abducted men were an Indian and a Pakistani.
Pillea, who was frightened to look at the pirates when he was called to identify them, said that they beat him and his crew severely.
“I am afraid to look at them. I am still very scarred of them. It was a horrifying experience, but the Nigerian Navy saved us,” he said.