Troops Neutralise 31 Terrorists, Arrest 81 – DHQ

Chidimma Uchegbu-Abuja

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) during the weekend said troops neutralised 31 terrorists and arrested 81 of them in different parts of the country.

The Director Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba made it available in a statement to defence correspondents in Abuja that “troops also apprehended 11 perpetrators of oil theft, rescued 10 kidnapped hostages while a total of 63 BH/ISWAP terrorists and their families surrendered to troops across theatres of operation.”

According to him, the breakdown is as follows: 26AK47 rifles, 4 locally made rifles,6 Dane guns, 2 locally made pistols, 7 magazines, body armour, ammo, among others.

General Buba said that “troops denied oil theft of an estimated sum of Two Hundred and One Million Four Hundred and Two Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Naira” (N201,420,260.00).

“Additionally, troops recovered 65 assorted weapons and 391 assorted ammunition.”

Further he said that others are: “345 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 19 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 7 rounds of 9mm ammo, 36 live cartridges, 10 rounds 7.62 x 39mm warheads, 48 motorcycles, 12 mobile phones and 43 and the sum of N327,960.00.”

The Media Director also disclosed that troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 7 dugout pits, 9 boats, 25 storage tanks, 39 cooking ovens, 3 pumping machines and 14 illegal refining sites stressing that troops recovered 367,300 litres of stolen crude oil, 11,353 litres of illegally refined AGO, 12,500 litres of DPK and 5,000 litres PMS.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces and citizens are partners in combating a common enemy which are the terrorist and violent extremist groups.

While noting that the ongoing military operations continues to set the stage for social ans economic progress, he pointed out that “the ultimate goal is to secure the country through the defeat of those threatening the safety of citizens and perpetrating insecurity across the country”.