Military troops in Niger Delta region have recovered no fewer than 3,282,250 litres of stolen crude oil, 224,050 litres of illegally refined AGO and 5,925 litres of DPK from oil thieves.
Troops also neautralised 254 terrorists in one week.
Spokesman of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba made the disclosure today.
According to Buba, the ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations have prevented these evil elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.
He noted that, the armed forces will continue to degrade their ability to carry out small scale attacks which are intended to create panic in localities across operational theatres in the country.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 131 dugout pits, 70 boats, 125 storage tanks, 12 motorcycles, 2 tricycles and 12 vehicles.
“Other items recovered incl 43 cooking ovens, 12 pump machines, 6 speedboats, one outboard engine and 67 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 3,282,250 litres of stolen crude oil, 224,050 litres of illegally refined AGO and 5,925 litres of DPK.” He said.
He added: “During the week under review troops recorded the following; troops neutralised 254 and arrested 264 of them. Troops also arrested 104 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 73 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Two Billion Six Hundred and Two Million Nine Hundred and Two Thousand and Eighty Hundred Naira (N2,602,902,800.00) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 378 assorted weapons and 4,705 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 131 AK47 rifles, 2 FN rifles, 2 G3 rifle, 3 SMGs, 69 locally fabricated guns, 57 pump action guns, 7 pistols, 14 locally fabricated pistols, 5 revolver rifles, 4 revolver pistols, 45 dane guns, 4 locally made single barrel, and 2 hand grenades, 7 RPG Launchers, one RPG bomb, one locally made double barrel gun, 17 dane gun double barrel and IEDs.
“Others are: 2,444 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,712 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 80 rounds of 9mm ammo, 61 rounds of 5.45 x 39mm ammo, 6 rounds of 0.44 inch ammo, 415 live cartridges, 10 empty cases of cartridges, 11 magazines, 18 vehicles, 40 motorcycles, 74 mobile phones, 4 baofeng radios and the sum of N748,430.00 amongst other items.
“The military will continue to find innovative solutions to the challenges in order to achieve the top priorities of securing the country and protect citizens from harm caused by these evil elements across the country. In the spirit of valentine citizens are encourage to demonstrate love for country in the face of challenge circumstances being faced.”