By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria have neutralised 92 terrorists and arrested 111 of them within the week
The Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye disclosed this while briefing Defence Correspondents in Abuja on Thursday.
He said troops rescued 75 kidnap victims, while 101 terrorists, comprising 11 adult males, 39 adult females, and 51 children, surrendered in the North East region of the country.
The DDMO said troops also apprehended 18 perpetrators of oil theft and foiled oil theft estimated at Five Hundred and Twenty-One Million, Eight Hundred and Two Thousand, Three Hundred and Sixty Naira (N521,802,360.00) only.
The breakdown revealed: 452,396 litres of stolen crude oil, 224,175 litres of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil and 1,920 litres of PMS. Additionally, troops discovered and destroyed 87 crude oil cooking ovens, 28 dugout pits, 23 boats, 33 storage tanks, 61 drums and 47 illegal refining sites.
Other items recovered include 2 pumping machines, 3 tricycles, 5 motorcycles, 2 mobile phones and 6 vehicles among others.
In a related development, troops recovered 117 and 2,939 assorted weapons and ammunition respectively. These includes, 58 AK47 rifles, 21 locally fabricated guns, 26 dane guns, 7 pump action guns, 4 PKT guns, 2 GPMGs, one QJC W85 gun, one HK 21 gun, one M60 MG, 11 RPG bombs, 2 RPG tubes and one fabricated 60mm mortar.
They also recovered quantity 2,278 rounds of assorted 7.62mm ammunition, 26 live cartridges, 64 rounds of 9mm ammo, 18 magazines, as well as other 8 assorted arms.
Both the land component of the Armed Forces conducted joint operations with the ONSA team and other security agencies.
A minute was observed for officers and others who lost their lives while defending their fatherland.
