Troops neutralise 177 terrorists, arrest 263 others in one week

BY ANDREW OROLUA

The Defence Headquarters said on Friday that troops neutralised 177 terrorists and arrested 263 persons in course of operations this week.

Major General Edward Buba the Director Defence Media Operations who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja said troops also arrested 41 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 158 kidnapped hostages.

He said troops operating in the South South region denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Five Hundred and One Million Eighty Nine Thousand Four Hundred Naira (N501,089,400.00) only.

Furthermore, troops recovered 170 assorted weapons and 4,692 assorted ammunition.

The breakdown of weapons and ammunition recovered are as follows: “6 PKT guns, 63 AK47 rifles, 3 FN rifles, one SMG rifle, 29 locally fabricated gun, 37 dane guns, 20 pump action guns and one short double barrel gun.

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“Two double barrel guns, 2 single barrel guns, one locally made single barrel, 6 locally fabricated pistols, 4 bandoliers, RPG bombs, RPG charger, 2 primed IEDs and materials.

Others are: “2,100 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,239 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 419 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 212 rounds of 5.56 x 54mm ammo, 722 live cartridges, 13 empty cases of 7.62mm ammo, 74 AK47 magazines, 2 FN magazines, 6 baofeng radios, 17 vehicles, 43 motorcycles, 31 mobile phones and the sum of N2,149,700.00 only amongst other items’.

Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 20 dugout pits, 32 boats and 32 storage tanks.

Other items recovered include 58 cooking ovens, 17 vehicles, one pumping machine, 5 mobile phones and 49 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 1,007,115 litres of stolen crude oil and 141,664 litres of illegally refined AGO.

He assured Nigerians that troops are taking the fight to the terrorist and making significant strides each passing day. ‘Much is being done, however we are focussed on doing much more to address the security situation and safeguard citizens”.

According to him, “the military is combating terrorism and other forms of insecurity across the operational theatres in the country and our role in the ongoing war is clear and we are increasingly making progress.”