…Denies oil theives approximately N1bn worth of crude oil
Nigerian military on Thursday confirmed the death of a notorious terrorist commander Munzur Ya Audu a terror operating in the North East Zone of the country, just as troops neutralized a total of 115 terrorists in encounters during the week at the various theatres.
A total of 238 terrorists including a cameroonian identified as a member of Ambazonia freedom fighter were arrested by the troops. In fact, the arrest of eight terrorists including the Cameroonian followed a tip-off, on November 12, that led to separate operations in Taraba State. It resulted in interception and arrested of 8 extremists/gunrunner including a notorious kidnapper and the cameroonian a member of Ambazonia. He was arrested in Kurmi LGAs of Taraba State.
Director of Defence Media Operations Major General Edward Buba who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during the biweekly press briefing said
15 perpetrators of oil theft were also arrested while 138 kidnapped hostages were rescued.
He said the aim of the armed forces in the ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency war remains to find and destroy the terrorist and their cohorts whenever they maybe hiding in our country.
In pursuit of this objective , “the military recognise the need to continue to act and respond forcefully against terrorist, accordingly, we are collecting intelligence, hunting them and striking locations in which they are confirmed to be hibernating.”
Furthermore, serious efforts has been emplaced at dismantling the terrorists’ capabilities as well as the terror networks of these groups. Troops are also actively targeting terrorist logistics bases and other structures that have affiliation to terror groups, he added.
The Director said troops in the South South Zone denied the oil theft of an estimated sum of Nine Hundred and Twenty One Million Eight Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand One Hundred and Forty Six Naira (N921,847,146.00) only within the week.
While on the whole, troops recovered 145 assorted weapons and 3,825 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: one GPMG, 2 PKT guns, 68 AK47 rifles, 2 AK56 rifles, 24 fabricated rifles, 28 dane guns, one fabricated revolver pistol, 6 locally made pistols, one pistol, 8 pump action guns, one hand grenade, 4 fabricated hand grenades, one RPG bomb and 3 explosives.
Others are: 2,093 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 246 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 317 rounds of 7.62mm GPMG/PKM ammo, 129 live cartridges, 28 shotgun cartridges, 500 empty case of MG ammo, 147 empty cases of 7.62mm ammo, 3 empty cases of cartridges, 54 magazines, 3 baofeng radios, 3 handheld radios, one bandolier, 12 vehicles, 24 motorcycles, 11 bicycles, 51 mobile phones and the sum of N7,245,500.00 only amongst other items.
Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 78 crude oil cooking ovens, 21 dugout pits, 56 boats, 56 drums, 26 storage tanks and 56 illegal refining sites. Other items recovered include 2 speedboats, one barge, 2 tricycles, one pumping machine, 2 walkie talkie, 2 outboard engines, 9 mobile phones and 12 vehicles among others. Troops recovered 872,070 litres of stolen crude oil and 67,985 litres of illegally refined AGO.
He restated the task before the military and, said “it is clear that troops focus is on fighting terrorist across the country” adding that”the air force has been striking the terrorist enclaves with air attacks. Troops have also exerted significant military power on areas in which the terrorists are hibernating.”
“There is no gain stating that, we are at war against a cruel and vicious enemy. It is therefore imperative that we degrade their military capability and effectiveness.
Overall, troops are mission focussed, prepared and motivated to winning the war against terrorism. We recognise that, it is a difficult task and that there would be casualties. The director said it is sad that the military lose five soldiers in North East Zone and three in South East Zone in the encounters this week.We are doing our possible best to minimise the casualties.
On the whole, it is our pride as a force to place ourselves in harms way in order to protect our citizens. We full committed to defeating all threat in order for citizens to live in a safer and more secured environment. This is the sacrifice we make as a force, for our nation.