Kanpur: A Merchant Navy sailor from Kanpur, who was in the custody of the Navy of Nigeria, returned to his home after a year on Saturday. The family members and neighbours warmly welcomed Roshan Arora. The family members celebrated by bursting crackers and playing drums. At the same time, on returning home, crew member Roshan Arora thanked the Government of India.
According to sources, a year ago, 26 crew members of the Merchant Navy were arrested in Guinea and Nigeria. All were in the custody of the Nigerian Navy. Nigeria had accused them of oil theft and water border violations. The ship on which they were aboard had a total of 16 Indians, eight Sri Lankans, one citizen of Poland and one from the Philippines.
After a year, the Government of India has freed 26 crew members from the Nigerian Navy. Roshan Arora, a resident of Govind Nagar in Kanpur South, was also a crew member included in these 26 crew.
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Roshan said, "In August we were sent to Nigeria, from where oil was to be brought. There were a total of 26 crew members on the ship. We reached Nigeria on August 5, 2022, where we were informed that oil will be available after four-five days. Later, Nigeria took possession of the ship, accusing it of oil theft and water limit violation."
"I did not expect that I would ever be able to return to my country, my home because, from the time Nigeria took over, there was an atmosphere of fear, everyone was scared and no one had any hope of coming back. When the Government of India started interfering, then after, there was some hope of getting out of there. On June 2, we were informed that all the crew members would be released."
Arora returned to India on Saturday. Meanwhile, Govind Nagar Assembly MLA Surendra Maithani, Kidwai Nagar Assembly MLA Mahesh Trivedi as well as the family members of Roshan and his neighbours also expressed happiness.
