By ZAKAA LAZARUS-Abuja
The Defence Headquarters has said it’s troops have neutralised 96 terrorists and arrested 227 others including a notorious terrorist commander identified as Usman Maisaje.
Defence Headquarters has identified the arrested terrorist commander as a close associate of a wanted high- profile terrorist leader known as Kachalla Boka and says “his arrest has been rewarding in intelligence value as he is cooperating and providing troops with much needed intelligence for further operations.”
Director Media Operations ,Major General Edward Buba who disclosed this in a statement on Friday also said troops eliminated five IPOB/ ESN terrorist leaders in South East during the week.
Troops are actively disruping the operational capabilities of terrorists through ongoing operation across the country.
Their efforts also led to the arrest of 45 perpetrators of oil theft and the rescue of 157 kidnapped hostages.
He said in the South south, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Twelve Million Sixty Five Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Naira (N712,065,450.00) only.
Furthermore, troops recovered 71 assorted weapons and 1,463 assorted ammunition.
The breakdown as follows: 50 AK47 rifles, 16 fabricated rifles, 5 dane guns, 5 pump action guns, 5 locally made pistols, one revolver pistol and 16 AK47 magazines.
Others are: 784 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 403 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 164 rounds 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 53 rounds of 9mm ammo, 67 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 19 vehicles, 23 motorcycles, 35 mobile phones and the sum of N4,087,630.00 and 46,000 cfa only amongst other items.
Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 4 dugout pits, 48 boats, 52 drums and 38 storage tanks.
Other items recovered include 55 cooking ovens, 2 speedboats, one tricycle, 6 mobile phones, 6 vehicles and 60 illegal refining sites.
Troops recovered 712,535 litres of stolen crude oil and 76,800 litres of illegally refined AGO.
He said the military will not relent on its plan to kill terrorists and destroy the infrastructure that support them and we are increasingly degrading
“the terrorist military capability and their effectiveness through our operations,” he assured.
