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The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), has said that troops rescued 848 captives from terrorists, killed 85 of the criminal elements, arrested 119 terrorists while 1,158 terrorists and their families surrendered in the last three weeks in the North-East and North-West regions.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Benard Onyeuko, who disclosed this on Thursday during the biweekly update on the Armed Forces of Nigeria’s operations between April 7 to 28, 2022, said the troops also arrested Abdurrazaq Hudu, a logistics supplier of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) at Mutum Biyu village in Gassol local government area of Taraba State.
General Onyeuko said troops in the North-East recovered 49 AK47 rifles, 728 rounds of 7.62mm, four MG’s, one G3 rfiles, three 60mm mortar, one AA gun, one SMG, six Magazines, one hand grenade, one UXO anti tank RPG bomb, 11 dane guns, one gun tripod, one binocular, five bandoliers, and eight crowbas.
Other items recovered include, seven motorcycles, 31 bicycles, four heavy duty generators, three Canoes, three tri-cycles, four motorcycles, 22 sewing machines, one video camera, four grinding machines, eight mobile phones, four cars, four trucks, one Toyota buffalo vehicle, eight drums of grains, medical syringes and N43,000.00 cash. “A total number of 1,158 terrorists and their families surrendered to own troops within the period under review comprising 164 men, 367 women and 627 children. Also, troops neutralized 23 terrorists, rescued 619 civilians and arrested 19 terrorists,” he said. He said all surrendered Boko Haram Terrorists, recovered items, rescued civilians and captured terrorists have been handed over to appropriate authorities for further actions.
In the North-West, he said troops of Operation Hadarin Daji theatre sustained aggressive operations to deny terrorists and bandits further freedom of action which culminated into the rescue of 32 women and 18 children in Zamfara State. He said troops on April 10, 2022 responded to a distress call of terrorist attack at Wanzamai in Tsafe local government area of Zamfara State and mobilised to the village and engaged the terrorists, where scores of the terrorists were killed.
The spokesperson said in the course of the operation, troops rescued 32 women and 18 children, adding that troops in a similar move successfully foiled terrorist attack in Bakura village in Bakura local government area of Zamfara, where unspecified number of terrorist were neutralised and 200 rustled cattle recovered.
“Cumulatively, within the 3 weeks period under review, troops recovered 592 rustled cattle, 45 different assorted weapons, 80 rounds of different caliber ammunitions, 50 motorcycles. Troops also rescued 179 civilians, neutralized 62 terrorists and apprehended 100 terrorists,” he added.
Meanwhile, troops in OPERATION DELTA SAFE theatre discovered several illegal refining sites with 133 ovens, 194 metal tanks storages, 127 dugout pits, five wooden boats, 12 receivers, two ovens, two engines, two pumping machines, one oxygen cylinder, one motorcycle, one jetta vehicle, 4,000 polythene bags of illegal refined black oil and five trucks. He said, “Cumulatively, 7,732,000 litres of crude oil and 10,821,605 litres of AGO was recovered.”
Furthermore, troop of Operation DAKATAR DA BARAWO discovered and destroyed several illegal refinery sites, containing 145 ovens, 201 storage metal tanks, 9 pumping machines, one Yamaha 40HP outboard engines, 55 dugout pits, 58 drums of AGO, 2 wooden boats, 100 polythene bags illegally refined AGO, one tanker loaded with illegal refined AGO.
Cumulatively, he said troops of Operation DAKATAR DA BARAWO recovered 1,718,000 litres of AGO, 3,800,000 litres of crude oil, 350,000 litres of sludge, 20,000 litres of PMS and 100,000 litres of DPK. He added that all recovered items and arrested criminals have been handed over to the appropriate authorities for further action.
(leadership.ng)
