By Victor Akaa
The Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba has disclosed that over 99 terrorist combatants have been eliminated by the troops of the Nigerian military, while198 were arrested and a total of 49 suspected oil thieves have been arrested in the last week.
He disclosed this Thursday during a media briefing on the successes recorded by the military and other security agencies’ operational engagements across the six geo-political zones in the country.
General Buba revealed that troops in the course of operations rescued 139 kidnapped hostages and prevented the oil thieves from destroying the national assets in the Niger Delta general area.
“In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Billion Eighteen Million Four Hundred and Eighty Three Thousand Nine Hundred Naira (N1,018,483,900.00) only,” he stated.
The Director further said troops recovered 141 assorted weapons and 1,463 assorted ammunition.
The breakdown is as follows: one GPMG, one GT3 rifle, one assault rifle, 49 AK47 rifles, one Josef magnum pump action gun, one double barrel gun, 2 single barrel guns, 9 locally made pistols, 13 Dane guns, one hand grenade, 7 locally made rifles, 3 RPG chargers, 2 locally made hand grenades.
He said, troops in the past week during its operations, killed scores of terrorists, destroyed their camps and other infrastructural facilities, apprehended criminal elements and rescued captives in their dungeon among several other successes recorded.
“Troops conducted operations to curb the violent activities in the NE, NW and NC zones, as well as the sundry crimes in the SW zone. In the SE Zone, troops conducted offensive actions against the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra/Eastern Security Network (IPOB/ESN) as well as other miscreants engaged in diverse violent activities.
“While in the SS Zone, troops curtailed the sabotage of the nation’s oil infrastructure and theft of crude oil, ” he explained.
He assured that the military will continue to conduct both aerial, ground and water offensives to avert any possible threats posed by the criminal elements and decimate them completely.