by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Defence Headquarters says Military Troops in their ongoing operational activities in the last one week has resulted in the arrest of 182 terrorists and 14 perpetrators of oil theft. The troops also neutralized 73 terrorists and rescued 68 kidnapped hostages.
Briefing news men in Abuja on Thursday on the ongoing military operations across the country, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Major-General Edward Buba, further explained that the troops in the last one month have not only recovered 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) in the South-South Region but also discovered and destroyed 15 dugout pits, 45 boats, 87 storage tanks, 128 cooking ovens, one pumping machine, 4 outboard engines and 63 illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta area.
He said troops also recovered 962,500 litres of stolen crude oil, 35,420 litres of illegal refined AGO, 38,450 litres of DPK and 45,000 litres of PMS, among other items.
“The ongoing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations,” Major-General Buba said “have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.”
According to him, the military will continue to degrade their ability to carry out small-scale attacks, which are intended to create panic in localities.
He added that, “The Director of Media Operation – one of the top priorities of the Armed Forces – is to secure the country and protect citizens from harm caused by these terrorists and extremist across the country.
“It is worthy to mention that the Armed Forces is in the lead in the ongoing counter-insurgency and counter-terrorists operations in the country. Significantly, these operations have killed or captured several terrorists, extremists leaders, their facilitators, key associates and numerous of their foot soldiers,” he further stated.