The National Defense Headquarters announced that in the past week, troops from Operation Delta Safe have destroyed 50 illegal oil refineries in the Niger Delta region and arrested 51 suspects.
The Director of Defense Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while briefing reporters on military operations.
Buba said the military had eliminated four criminals and also recovered weapons and ammunition.
He added that a total of 578,900 liters of stolen crude oil, 454,330 liters of illegally refined motor diesel oil and 10,000 liters of multipurpose kerosene were recovered during the operation.
He said troops also destroyed 245 dugout pits, 31 boats, 69 storage tanks, one tricycle, 23 vehicles, 162 cooking ovens, one pumper and three outboard motors.
He further disclosed that on November 14, troops neutralized a notorious criminal and recovered one locally manufactured handgun in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State.
“On November 15, troops with a mixed force raided a hideout of suspected drug traffickers in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State and arrested six suspects.
“The maritime arm of Operation Delta Safe conducted a search and rescue operation on 17 November following a distress call for the missing Cameroonian-flagged motor fishing vessel MFV AFKI (registration number UK12, number AFKI 8432780).
“After frantic surveillance, the Maritime Division tracked and made contact with the vessel 17 nautical miles from Pennington Terminal.
“The ship was recovered with two foreign crew members on board,” he said.
Mr. Buba said that in the southeast, troops of Operation UDOKA neutralized six criminals, arrested 14 suspected IPOB/ESN members and rescued two kidnapped hostages.
He added that the troops also recovered a pump-action gun, one double-barrelled gun, one domestic pistol, six rounds of 9mm ammunition, a motorcycle and two mobile phones.
He said all recovered items, arrested suspects and rescued hostages were handed over to the relevant authorities for further action. (South)
Source: dailypost.ng