By Harriet Tornguvan
The Military High Command, Thursday said troops deployed to different theatres of operations across the country neutralised 187 and arrested 183 criminal elements.
The Defence Headquarters DHQ, also said troops also arrested 26 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 109 kidnapped hostages in one week.
Director Defence Media Operations Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba revealed this while briefing journalists on the successes recorded by troops, said the military is keeping up the pressure through ongoing operations in five active theatres across the country.
General Edward also revealed that the South South, troops denied the oil thieves crude estimated to worth the 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.
He further disclosed that troops recovered 128 assorted weapons and 3,300 assorted ammunition.
The breakdown are 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 beretta 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 AK47 magazines, 6 baofeng radios, 10 vehicles, 4 motorcycles, 4 walkie-talkie, mobile phones and the sum of N102,010.00 only amongst other items.”
The defence spokesperson disclosed that 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,” he said.
Speaking further, he said the military has aborted plots by criminal elements to attack critical infrastructure across the country, adding that security agencies responsible for securing critical infrastructure have been placed on alert.
“We are aware of some of the plans to target some critical infrastructure in the country. Accordingly, we have emplaced measures to forestall such plans.
“Security agencies responsible for securing critical infrastructure and facilities have also been placed on alert. Accordingly, some of such plans have been frustrated,” he said.
