Major General Christopher Musa, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff
By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
In continuation of the war against insecurity and other criminal activities in the country, the military in the last two weeks, neutralized 28 terrorists and arrested a total of 114 other criminal elements, while also rescuing 82 kidnapped hostages.
Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO, Major-General Edward Buba, who made this known in Abuja on Thursday, said the troops further prevented the theft of oil products valued at N876,451,800.00 and recovered the cash sum of N2,896,400.0.
Major-General Buba, who was briefing the media on the on-going military operations by the Armed Forces of Nigeria as at August 17, 2023, explained that the arrested criminal elements were made up of 92 terrorists, 6 gunrunners, 3 kidnappers, 6 collaborators and 7 perpetrators of oil theft.
“Overall, troops recovered 108 weapons and 564 ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 22 AK47 rifles, one PKT gun, 6 pump action guns, 4 dane guns, one fabricated rifle, one galil ace rifle, one RGP bomb, one RPG tube, 44 hand grenades, 322 rounds of 7.62mm special, 63 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 12 rounds of 5.6mm ammo, 33 AK47 magazines, one empty case of 7.62mm special and 3 empty magazines,” he said.
Other items recovered include 14 motorcycles, 16 mobile phones, 3 motorolla radio, one boafeng radio, 2 motorcycle tyres, 5 touch lights, 2 solar panels, 104 livestock and the sum of N2,896,400.0.
According to him, “Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 36 dugout pits, 62 wooden boats, 73 storage tanks, one vehicle and 75 cooking ovens. Others include; 4 pumping machine, 5 outboard engine and 33 illegal refining sites. Furthermore, troops recovered 1,166,900 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,491,250 litres of illegally refined AGO, 54,750 litres of DPK and 800 litres of PMS.”
He declared that the armed forces possessed the power and the will to hunt down those that wish to bring harm upon our citizens, stressing that the ongoing operations was a message to those that question the resolve of the military.
“It is also a message to members of these violent extremist groups that think they can hide. They can be rest assured that others shall raise their sons and daughters, as no one will strike at the military without injurious consequences,” Major-General Buba said.
