The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) said on Thursday that its troops killed 197 terrorists in the last seven days, arrested 310 others and saved Nigeria from crude oil theft worth about N 766m.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, told journalists while reviewing operations of the Nigerian military in the last one week that “during the week under review, troops neutralised 197 and arrested 310 persons. Troops also arrested 22 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 251 kidnapped hostages.
“In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Sixty Five Million Six Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand One Hundred Naira (N765,654,100.00) only. Furthermore, troops recovered 180 assorted weapons and 5,123 assorted ammunition.
“The breakdown as follows: 2 PKT guns, one fabricated Arty gun, one G3 rifle, 73 AK47 rifles, 17 locally fabricated gun, 21 dane guns, 2 pump action guns, 2 revolver rifles, one short dane gun, 3 double barrel guns, 3 single barrel guns, one pistol, 4 locally fabricated pistols, 5 fabricated baretta pistols, one berretta pistol, one jojef magnum pump action gun, one Exp 64 semi auto rifle, 10 hand grenades, 3 60mm mortar bombs, bandoliers and 10 fabricated Arty bombs.
“Others are: 3,207 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,022 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 13 rounds of 9mm ammo, 243 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 240 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm, 132 rounds of 5.56 x 54mm ammo, 143 live cartridges, 59 magazines, one pistol magazine, one ECOME HH radio, 4 baofeng radios, 4 vehicles, 47 motorcycles, 21 mobile phones and the sum of N1,236,200.00 as well as CFA 608,000.00 only amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 29 dugout pits, 22 boats and 26 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 66 cooking ovens, 85 drums, 8 vehicles, 3 mobile phones and 43 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 728,360 litres of stolen crude oil, 143,450 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,100 litres of DPK and 18,750 litres of PMS.”
General Buba then assured Nigerians that “the military will continue to work tirelessly to restore safety and security across our nation. Certainly, there is still a lot of fighting to do, in order to guarantee the safety of our homeland.
“Citizens must clearly understand the reason we are fighting this war. They must understand that the terrorist will not stop, until they are stopped. Additionally, the lifeline of the terrorist groups is the people. Winning the war without the support of the people is close to impossible.
“While troops probably don’t have all the answers. Citizens should be rest assured that the military is working relentlessly to guarantee the safety and security of every citizen from acts of terror.”