By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The Defence Headquarters on Thursday said it neutralised 106 terrorists leaders, commanders, foot soldiers as well as its collaborators and arrested 164 persons.
Major General Edward Buba, the Director Defence Media Operations (DDMO) disclosed this while briefing Defence correspondent in Abuja on the ongoing military operations across the country.
He said Troops also arrested 32 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 103 kidnapped hostages.
He mentioned that in the South South, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Ninety Three Million Five Hundred and Thirty Six Thousand Naira (N793,536,000.00) only and recovered 125 assorted weapons and 1,522 assorted ammunition.
According to him, the breakdown as follows: 41 AK47 rifles, one PKT gun, 24 locally fabricated gun, 28 dane guns, one pump action gun, 755 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 623 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 102 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 63 live cartridges, 247 empty case of 7.62mm ammo, 22 AK47 magazines, one baofeng radio, 22 vehicles, 31 motorcycles, 2 bicycles, 10 mobile phones and the sum of N2,956,000.00 only amongst other items.
“In the SE Zone, troops sustain the momentum against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and their armed Eastern Security Network (ESN) cohorts.
“While, in the SS Zone troops continue to battled perpetrators of crude oil theft. In battling the perpetrators of crude oil theft. We have established a unified command structure for security operating in the region.
“Additionally, we are examining other areas such as: transparency of IOCs, credible metering of oil wells and the tracking of point of loading to destination of the crude oil.
“We are also galvanising the support of host communities as well as stakeholders in the oil sector. Troops are also reinforcing surveillance efforts on vessels, terminals and oil infrastructures to include jackets, that house well heads.
“Most importantly, troops are monitoring to ensure that culprits are prosecuted by the prosecuting agencies. It is believe that with these measures emplaced, there would be a significant boost in crude oil output for the nation
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 20 dugout pits, 24 boats and 34 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 56 cooking ovens, 2 speedboats, 14 pumping machines, 18 drums, 22 vehicles, 4 motorcycles and 36 illegal refining sites.
“Troops recovered 802,200 litres of stolen crude oil, 121,900 litres of illegally refined AGO and 450 litres of DPK.
conditioner in their houses.
