Troops have made laudable achievement in the past one week in the fight against terrorism and economic saboteurs says Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Abuja.
The Director, Defence Media Operations DDMO Maj-Gen Edward Buba made this known in a statement revealed that within the period under review troops killed 188 terrorists, arrested 330, and denied oil thieves over N637m among other notable achievements.
Buba stated,”The armed forces are working decisively to kill the terrorist , stop the insecurity and ensure the safety of citizens. Accordingly, we are making the terrorist pay a much heavier price than we have been forced to pay.
“Troops will continue to operate with tremendous force against the terrorist across the country. During the week under review. Troops neutralised 188 and arrested 330 persons.
“Troops also arrested 36 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 133 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Six Hundred and Thirty Seven Million Seven and Ten Thousand Three Hundred and Ten Naira (N637,710,310.00) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 270 assorted weapons and 5,083 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 122 AK47 rifles, 47 locally fabricated gun, 47 dane guns, 24 automatic pump action guns, 8 locally fabricated pistols, 2 locally made single barrel guns, one double barrel gun, one hand grenade and one IED.
“Others are: 2,129 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,686 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 116 rounds of 9mm ammo, 133 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ball ammo, 151 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 619 live cartridges, 34 magazines, 8 HH radios, 8 vehicles, 40 motorcycles, 6 bicycles, 50 mobile phones and the sum of N610,210.00 amongst other items.”
He added that troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 51 dugout pits, 24 boats, 21 storage tanks and 4 vehicles.
He said other items recovered include 28 cooking ovens and 21 illegal refining sites.
According to him, troops also recovered 672,350 litres of stolen crude oil and 90,530 litres of illegally refined AGO.
Gen. Buba assured that the military is in a good and strong position in the war against terrorists with many terrorists leaders killed.
“We will continue to provide security for citizens with the tools at our disposal,” he assured.
By Chimezie Godfrey
