Troops nab 160 suspected oil thieves, others in two weeks

Troops of Nigeria’s armed forces have arrested no fewer than 161 suspected oil thieves and other criminals and killed dozens of terrorists across the country in the last two weeks.

Brigadier General Abdullahi Ibrahim a military officer of the directorate of Defence Media Operations who disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday, said troops of Operation Delta Safe operating in the Niger Delta Region destroyed 30 illegal refining sites, and a total of N503.6 million were denied the oil thieves during the period in focus.

Giving a breakdown, he said the soldiers recovered 1,675,700 litres of crude oil, 74,500 litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 10 vehicles, 20 motorcycles, 8 weapons and 330 assorted ammunitions, and arrested 42 economic saboteurs.

Speaking further, the military officer disclosed that the troops of Operation Hadin Kai, operating in the Northeast region neutralized 24 Boko Haram Terrorists/Islamic State of West Africa Province terrorists, apprehended 49 terrorists, their collaborators and logistics suppliers and rescued 35 kidnapped civilians, with varying degrees of weapons recovered.

“Relatedly, the air component of Operation Hadin Kai conducted an air interdiction operation at terrorists’ hideout at Tumbun Shitu, Arina Chiki a known terrorist hideout in Southern Tumbuns of Borno State. The locations were bombarded with bombs, neutralized several terrorists and destroyed their structures in the air strike. A similar air interdiction operation was conducted at identified terrorist locations in Jango, Kundesana in Mandara mountains and AL Jabbari in Borno State. In these locations, Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance footage confirmed clusters of active structures with some terrorist activities. Accordingly, the targets were bombarded”, he said.

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According to Ibrahim, due to troops’ offensive operations against terrorists in the theatre of operations, a total of 967 terrorists comprising 82 adult males, 354 adult females and 531 children surrendered to troops at different locations within the joint area of operations.

In the north-central zone, Ibrahim informed that troops neutralized 7 terrorists and arrested 44 suspected criminals, while in the Northwest; Troops of Operation Hadarin Daji killed 16 terrorists, arrested 38 suspected criminals and recovered several weapons.

He added that the soldiers also rescued 38 kidnapped civilians, as one Boko Haram/ISWAP Terrorist surrendered to the troops.

Similarly, in the southeast region, Ibrahim said soldiers neutralized four Indigenous People of Biafra/Eastern Security Network criminals and arrested 37 suspected criminals as well as rescued 15 kidnapped civilians.

“All recovered items, arrested Boko Haram Terrorists logistics suppliers and rescued civilians have been handed over to the relevant authority for further action while captured terrorists and surrendered Boko Haram Terrorists/Islamic State of West Africa Province terrorists and members of their families were profiled and documented for further action”, he said.