Troops neutralise 254 terrorists, arrest 364 others in one week

The Military High Command, on Friday, said that its troops at the various theatres of operations across the six geo-political zones of the country in the renewed war against insurgency activities have neutralised 254 terrorists and arrested 364 including perpetrators of oil theft in the last one week

This was contained in a statement made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja by Director Defence Media Operations DMO Major General Edward Buba, on the ongoing Military Operations by the Armed Forces of Nigeria AFN and other security agencies in the country.

He stated that Troops also arrested 104 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 73 kidnapped hostages. In the South-South, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Two Billion Six Hundred and Two Million Nine Hundred and Two Thousand and Eighty Hundred Naira (N2,602,902,800.00) only.

“The ongoing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.

“Accordingly, the armed forces will continue to degrade their ability to carry out small scale attacks which are intended to create panic in localities across operational theatres in the country”

“Troops recovered 378 assorted weapons and 4,705 assorted ammunition. The breakdown is as follows: 131 AK47 rifles, 2 FN rifles, 2 G3 rifles, 3 SMGs, 69 locally fabricated guns, 57 pump action guns, 7 pistols, 14 locally fabricated pistols, 5 revolver rifles, 4 revolver pistols, 45 Dane guns, 4 locally made single barrel, and 2 hand grenades, 7 RPG Launchers, one RPG bomb, one locally made double barrel gun, 17 dane gun double barrel and IEDs.

“Others are: 2,444 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,712 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 80 rounds of 9mm ammo, 61 rounds of 5.45 x 39mm ammo, 6 rounds of 0.44-inch ammo, 415 live cartridges, 10 empty cases of cartridges, 11 magazines, 18 vehicles, 40 motorcycles, 74 mobile phones, 4 baofeng radios and the sum of N748,430.00 amongst other items.

“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 131 dugout pits, 70 boats, 125 storage tanks, 12 motorcycles, 2 tricycles and 12 vehicles. Other items recovered included 43 cooking ovens, 12 pump machines, 6 speedboats, one outboard engine, and 67 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 3,282,250 litres of stolen crude oil, 224,050 litres of illegally refined AGO and 5,925 litres of DPK,” the statement partly read.

General Buba assured that the military would continue to find innovative solutions to the challenges in order to achieve the top priorities of securing the country and protecting citizens from harm caused by the evil elements across the country.

In the spirit of Valentine, citizens are encouraged to demonstrate love for the country in the face of challenges being faced.