The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), yesterday, said that troops of Operation Delta Safe in the South South general area recovered a total of 2,229,060 stolen crude, and other illegally-refined products.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, made the disclosure in a statement forwarded to Saturday Telegraph. According to him: “Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 51 dugout pits, 38 boats and 51 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 215 cooking ovens, 2 speedboats, 44 drums, 3 tug boats, 3 barges, 4 wheelbarrows, one outboard engine, 15 vehicles, 3 motorcycles, 6 mobile phones and 105 illegal refining sites. “Troops recovered 1,099,860 litres of stolen crude oil, 1,101,700 litres of illegally refined AGO, 27350 litres of DPK and 150 litres of PMS. “Troops will continue to employ significant firepower to neutralize terrorists and disrupt their activities across the country. Winning the war against the terrorists is non-nego- tiable.”
He further noted that: “The armed forces have intensified intelligence collection efforts targeted at hunting terrorists and striking them where they may be hiding and hibernating. “The aim is to kill this terrorist and the infrastructure that supports them. Additionally, operational adjustments have been made to prioritize protection for farmers to ensure successful rainy-season farming.
“During the week under review, troops neu- tralised 220 and arrested 395 persons. Troops also arrested 55 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 202 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of One Billion Eight Hundred and Sixty Mil- lion One Hundred and Fifty One Thousand Sev- en Hundred Naira (N1, 860,151,700.00) only.
New Telegraph
