The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said troops’ offensives against terrorists have severely depleted ISWAP terrorist rank and file in the North East, forcing them to embark on a desperate recruitment drive.
The director of defence media operations, Major General Edward Buba, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, also said terrorists operating in the North West are on a recruitment drive on social media for recruits.
“Troops are aware of the situation and working with other security agencies and governments to thwart the plans,” he said.
He said troops within the week killed 88 terrorists, arrested 228 and rescued 181 hostages.
Troops also arrested 40 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N1,021,412,950.00 only.
General Buba said troops recovered 84 assorted weapons and 2,393 assorted ammunition within the period.
He broke down the recovered weapons as follows: 34 AK47 rifles, 15 fabricated rifles, 11 Dane guns, five fabricated revolver pistols, eight locally made pistols, three pump-action guns, and one magnum pump-action gun.
Others include 1,807 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 314 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 146 rounds of 7.62mm PKM ammo, 77 rounds of 9mm ammo, 49 live cartridges, 25 magazines, two baofeng radios, 16 vehicles, 35 motorcycles, 27 mobile phones, and the sum of N1,851,000.00 and other items.
Meanwhile, in the Niger Delta area, troops discovered and destroyed 59 illegal refining sites, 13 crude oil cooking ovens, 20 dugout pits, 73 boats, and 25 storage tanks and recovered three barges, seven speedboats, 73 drums, one tricycle, five pumping machines, three mobile phones and nine vehicles among others.
Troops recovered 942,420 litres of stolen crude oil, 175,075 litres of illegally refined AGO and 4,980 litres of PMS.
