The Nigerian troops have neutralised 37 terrorists, while 95 of them were arrested in different parts of the country.
In a statement, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, who disclosed this, said that “the operations of the troops are yielding desired results ranging from denying safe havens to these groups to the destruction of their command and control facilities as well as training facilities.”
General Buba noted that troops also arrested 19 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 53 kidnapped hostages.
According to him, in the South-South geopolitical zone, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of three billion, three hundred and ninety-nine million, twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred and fifty naira (N3,399,029,850.00) only.
Furthermore, troops recovered 100 assorted weapons and 1,207 assorted ammunition. The breakdown is as follows: 45 AK47 rifles, 11 locally fabricated AK47 rifles, 6 pump action guns, 12 Dane guns, 2 AK47 rifles loaded with 34 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 2 locally made guns, 2 locally fabricated pistols, 2 locally made revolvers.
Others are; 925 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 28 rounds of 9mm ammo, 157 live cartridges, 23 magazines, 27 vehicles, 25 motorcycles, 38 mobile phones, 2 HH radios, 2 Boafeng radios, 4 bicycles and one tricycle, among others.
He said: “Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 42 dugout pits, 82 boats, 143 storage tanks, 234 cooking ovens, 56 illegal refining sites, 61 hoses, 17 drums, one pumping machine, 2 outboard engines and one vessel. Troops recovered 6,009,500 litres of stolen crude oil, 425,715 litres of illegally refined AGO, 38,100 litres of DPK and 4,500 litres of PMS.“
The military is in a good fight and is winning in this war. Our operations have killed or captured several terrorist and insurgent leaders as well as their facilitators and key associates, he added.
Accordingly, the insurgents and terrorists are in perpetual mourning as they constantly bury their dead and continue to do so. Our communities across the country have risen to the occasion of exposing these elements, and it is having a tremendous impact on operations as they no longer have a hiding place.
Consequently, know something and say something so we can do something.
