By Chimezie Godfrey
The Defence Headquarters says troops of Operation Delta Safe recover crude worth over N1bn and rescued 76 kidnap victims in the Niger-Delta region of the country.
Maj-Gen Edward Buba, the Director of Defence Media Operations made this startling revelation on Thursday in Abuja, saying that military operations have curtailed terrorist and other criminal activities across the geo-political zones of Nigeria.
Gen. Buba stated that the upsurge in anti-illegal oil bunkering operations by troops of Operation Delta Safe in the South-South Region has yielded desirable outcomes, adding that this is indicative by the appreciable improvement in the country’s daily crude production.
“During the course of operations in the last one week, the military neutralized 151 terrorists, arrested 456 terrorists and arrested 45 perpetrators of oil theft. Troops also rescued 76 kidnapped hostages and denied oil theft of the sum of One Billion, Eleven Million Eight Hundred and Fifty One Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Naira (N1,011,851,250) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 216 assorted weapons and 443 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 62 AK47 rifles, 7 pump action guns, 19 dane guns, 3 berreta pistol, 10 locally fabricated rifles, 5 locally made pistols, 399 IED detonator primers, 225 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 10 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 13 round of 9mm ammo, 20 rounds of 7.62mm x 54mm, 57 cartridges, 49 magazines, 21 vehicles, 4 motorcycles, one tricycle, 3 mobile phones and the sum of N3,194,450.00.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 21 dugout pits, 56 boats, 138 storage tanks, 235 cooking ovens, 6 pumping machine, one outboard engine, 2 speedboats, 89 illegal refining sites and the sum of N13,950. Troops recovered about 1,205,950 litres of stolen crude oil, 452,910 litres of illegally refined AGO, 22,650 litres of PMS and 3,000 litres of DPK,” he said.
He added,”Interestingly, the perpetrators of the terrorist and insurgency activities are using it as a guise for their personal gain through illegal mining and other unlawful activities. For instances, the foot soldiers carryout the illegal mining from mining pits, while their sponsors are in the cities and town, moving around as normal citizens to dispose the proceeds.
“The situation underscores the importance of ongoing military operations which is critical to the nations effort to achieving peace and security.
“The military is up to the challenge and more than ever before, the outcome is not in doubt.”
Gen. Buba declared that ongoing operations reflect the commitment of the military to end terrorism and insurgency in the country.
“Our ongoing operations reflect the commitment of the military to end terrorism and insurgency in the country. The armed forces will therefore remain focused in the conduct of its operations in support of national security interests.
“The priority of our operations is the protection of the citizens as well as villages, towns and cities from the senseless violence of terrorist and other violent extremist groups.
“Accordingly, our activities in Operation HADIN KAI in the Northeast have effectively curtailed Boko Haram and other terrorist activities in the Region. This is indicative by the large-scale surrender of members of the terrorist groups and the submission of a large cache of arms and ammunition.
“Similarly, the operational activities of troops in Operation HADARIN DAJI and Operation WHIRL PUNCH have made significant impact to curtailed banditry and insurgency in the North West and North Central Regions of the Country,” he said.
Gen. Buba also said that criminalities perpetrated in the Southeast region by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) have been reduced to the bearest minimum through activities of troops of Operation UDO KA in collaboration with other security agencies.
