…Recovers over 960,000litres of stolen crude, others
By Chimezie Godfrey
The Nigerian military has within the last one week denied oil thieves crude worth N1.2bn in the Niger Delta region of the country.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Defence Headquarters Abuja, Maj-Gen. Edward Buba made this known to newsmen Thursday in Abuja.
Maj-Gen Buba said troops has maintained the momentum of their operation against crude oil theft in the Niger-Delta region of the country.
He said troops within the period under review apprehended 14 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 68 kidnapped hostages, among others.
He said,”One of the top priorities of the armed forces is to secure the country and protect citizens from harm caused by these terrorist and extremist across the country. Accordingly, the military is actively working to achieve this mandate.
“It is worthy of mention that the armed forces is in the lead in the ongoing country insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in the country. Significantly, these operations have killed or captured several terrorist, extremist leaders, their facilitators, key associates and numerous of their foot soldiers.
“Relatedly, the ongoing surgical operations recently embarked upon have thrown these evil elements into a state of complete disarray due to the precision of the operations. The terrorist and extremist alike are now perplexed and suffocated with little or no hiding place. It is now a question of sooner than later, before it would be too late for most of them.
“During the week and in collaboration with our foreign partners. The military conducted a surgical operation targeted at the residence of an ISWAP terrorist commander in Niger State. Several arrest and discoveries were made as a result of the operation. However, being an ongoing operation not much can be revealed at this stage. Nevertheless, one thing is certain, the operation is just one of several others to flush out the terrorist. The message is clear to all. You are either on the side of Nigerians and the armed forces, or against us in the fight against terrorist and extremist.
“The operations of the last one week, resulted in 73 neutralized terrorists with 182 of them arrested. Troops also arrested 14 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 68 kidnapped hostages. In the South-South, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of One billion ,two Hundred and Twelve Million Forty Six Thousand One Hundred and Forty Naira (N1, 212,046,140.00) only.“
Gen Buba also revealed that troops recovered 119 assorted weapons and 1,537 assorted ammunition within the week.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 119 assorted weapons and 1,537 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: one GPMG, 3 PKT guns, 39 AK47 rifles, 5 locally fabricated rifles, one locally made double barrel gun, one barreta pistols, 4 locally made pistols, 5 RPG bombs, 5 pu,p action gus, one short gun, one hand grenade, 2 dane guns, one AK47 rifle loaded with 14 rounds of 7.62mm special, one locally made pistol loaded with live cartridges.
“Others are: 586 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, a bag containing 287 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 389 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 141 rounds of 7.62mm special (belted) ammo, 12 rounds of 9mm ammo, 113 rounds of live cartridges, 25 empty magazine, 13 vehicles, 3 motorcycles, 10 mobile phones, 2 HH radio, one boafeng radio and the sum of N3,308,700.00 amongst other items,” he said.
He also said troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 15 dugout pits, 45 boats, 87 storage tanks, 128 cooking ovens, one pumping machine, 4 outboard engine and 63 illegal refining sites, among other successes recorded.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 15 dugout pits, 45 boats, 87 storage tanks, 128 cooking ovens, one pumping machine, 4 outboard engine and 63 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 962,500 litres of stolen crude oil, 35,420 litres of illegally refined AGO, 38,450 litres of DPK and 45,000 litres of PMS.
“The ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives. The military will continue to degrade their ability to carry out small scale attacks which are intended to create panic in localities,” Gen. Buba said.
