By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The Defence Headquarters on Thursday said troops engaged in various operations across the country since the beginning of the year neutralized 8,034 terrorists, arrested 11,623 suspects and rescued 6,376 hostages.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba disclosed this during a media briefing in Abuja.
He said troops recovered 8,216 weapons, 211,459 ammunition and denied the oil theft of an estimated sum over N57 billion (N57,052,218,551.00) only.
According to him, “troops have since the beginning of the year been confronted by different threats in five active theatres of operations across the country, namely; NE, NW, NC, SS and SE. Accordingly, troops adopted a high level of alert and an increased state of readiness to protect the country from further terrorist aggression and insecurity.
“The breakdown of the recoveries are as follows: 4,053 AK47 rifles, 1,123 locally fabricated guns, 731 dane guns and 240 pump action guns. Others are; 120,247 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 41,515 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 5,373 cartridges, 1,940 assorted arms and 25,664 assorted ammunition.
“Additionally, troops recovered: 53,101,430 litres of stolen crude oil, 9,179,181 litres of illegally refined AGO and 90,595 litres of DPK. Others are; 156,095 litres of PMS amongst other items.
“Overall, the military is keeping up the pressure through ongoing operations in the various theatres across the country. The military is through these operations, increasingly creating conditions in which terrorist can not carry out acts of terror or harm citizens.
“On the whole, the armed forces is constantly examining ways to improve the effectiveness of its operations and guarantee the safety of citizens. Relatedly, operations are on an upward trajectory to winning the war.”
