By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
The Nigeria military said during the week under review, troops neutralised 187 and arrested 183 persons.
Speaking on Thursday while giving update on the military operations in the country, Major General, Edward Buba,
Director Defence Media Operations, added that troops also arrested 26 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 109 kidnapped hostages.
He said the military is keeping up the pressure through ongoing operations in five active theatres across the country.
He listed the theatres to include; the NE, NW, NC, SS and SE, with the NE and NW having the highest levels of intensity.
He said the operations are complex as troops are engaged in fighting in difficult terrains as well as fighting an adversaries that adopts various forms, across the country. “Clearly, we have boots on the ground and are fighting in several dimensions to crush the enemy.
“Indeed, troops are fighting on ground, air, at sea as well as in the cyber dimension in several parts of the country. The common denominator in all our operations are the terrorist.
“These terrorist are the enemy that must be fought and defeated. They are responsible for keeping the nation in an almost constant state of counter terrorism and counter insurgency.
“In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Billion One Hundred and Twenty Seven Million Two Hundred and Twenty Nine Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninty Naira (N1,127,229,890.00) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 128 assorted weapons and 3,300 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: one PKT gun, 80 AK47 rifles, 15 locally fabricated gun, 15 dane guns, 2 FN rifles, 5 pump action guns, 2 single barrel guns, 4 locally fabricated pistols, one fabricated barretta pistol, one locally made double barrel gun, 2 hand grenades, 2 primed IEDs and materials.
“Others are: 1,941 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 729 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 377 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 191 rounds of 5.55mm ammo, 199 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 16 rounds of 9mm ammo, 26 live cartridges, 26 empty case of cartridges, 26 AK47magazines, 6 baofeng radios, 10 vehicles, 4 motorcycles, 4 walkie-talkie, mobile phones and the sum of N102,010.00 only amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 18 dugout pits, 30 boats and 49 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 66 cooking ovens, 4 drums, 5 speedboats, 15 vehicles, 2 tricycles, one generator, 11 mobile phones and 57 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 1,l25,440 litres of stolen crude oil, 213,539 litres of illegally refined AGO and 1,230 litres of PMS.”
