By Harriet Tornguvan -Abuja
The armed forces, through sustained operations, are successfully reversing the momentum against terrorists and violent extremists across the country, the support networks of these groups are being systematically disrupted due to the ongoing military efforts.
According to Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations during the week troops in the North Central theatre of operation intercepted and apprehended 2 ammunition couriers that collaborate with the terrorist.
He stated that the arrested persons identified as Danweri and Abubakar Hamza were apprehended in Alkaleri LGA of Bauchi State and cooperated with troops.
Additionally General Buba said, troops neutralised 148 and arrested 258 persons. Troops also arrested 51 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 291 kidnapped hostages, in the South South.
"Troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Ninty Eight Million One Hundred and Forty Six Thousand Four Hundred and Seventy Naira (N798,146,470.00) only.
Furthermore, troops recovered 146 assorted weapons and 2,599 assorted ammunition.The breakdown as follows: 2 PKT guns, 72 AK47 rifles, 33 fabricated rifles, 28 dane guns, 2 locally made SMG, 3 locally made pistols, 2 pump action guns, one RPG bomb, one RPG tube, 39 magazines.
"Others included are 1,596 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 636 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 111 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 114 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 25 rounds of 9mm ammo, 98 live cartridges, 3 baofeng radios, 3 vehicles, 36 motorcycles, 40 mobile phones and the sum of N1,838,000.00 amongst other items.
He added that, troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 68 crude oil cooking ovens, 13 dugout pits, 41 boats, 45 storage tanks and 66 illegal refining sites. Other items recovered include 4 speedboats, one pumping machine, 150 drums, one generator, 2 motorcycles, 2 mobile phones, one drone and 5 vehicles among others. Troops recovered 657,470 litres of stolen crude oil, 127,870 litres of illegally refined AGO and 5,000 litres of DPK.
General Buba said, troops remain focussed on destroying both their military capability as well as their will to fight terrorists and violent extremists across the country.
He emphasized that troops are in a good position and winning the war.
