Troops Arrest 135 Terrorists, Rescue 76 Hostages

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said troops on internal operations arrested 135 terrorists, including two Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leaders, killed 140 terrorists and rescued 76 hostages in one week.

The director of defence media operations, Major General Edward Buba, gave the figures yesterday.

He said troops of Operation Udo Ka at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Orsu in the South East theatre arrested a leader of the proscribed IPOB group identified as ‘Pius Iguh’.

He said Pius Iguh is a founding father of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) group in the Orsu general area of Imo State.

In the same vein, troops at FOB Amaruku arrested another IPOB leader, identified as “Emmanuel Onwugu”, in Mbano LGA of Abia State.

General Buba said troops, in collaboration with other security forces, arrested a notorious cult leader named Ifeanyi Rock with 10 of his combatants in the Arochukwu area in Abia State.

He said the troops recovered 241 assorted weapons and 3,254 assorted ammunition within the period.

He gave a breakdown of recovered weapons as follows: 141 AK47 rifles, one PKT gun, two FN rifles, 17 fabricated rifles, 26 Dane guns, 13 pump action guns, four locally made pistols, one Barreta pistol, two bayonets and 42 AK47 Magazines.

Others include 2,016 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 970 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 33 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 76 rounds of 9mm ammo, 113 live cartridges, two Baofeng radios, three vehicles, 31 motorcycles, 18 mobile phones, and the sum of N79,052,150.00 and 19$ only, amongst other items.

Meanwhile, in the Niger Delta, he said troops destroyed 47 illegal refining sites, arrested 18 suspected oil thieves and recovered stolen products worth N1,751,886,550.00 only.

Furthermore, the troops destroyed 33 crude oil cooking ovens, 19 dugout pits, 41 boats, 70 drums, and 22 storage tanks.

The troops also recovered 13 speedboats, one tricycle, four motorcycles, three vehicles, 1,122,710 litres of stolen crude oil and 557,210 litres of illegally refined AGO.

He assured that the military will defeat the terrorist on the battlefield and in their hiding places so that the country can flourish again.

He, therefore, called on citizens to see themselves as the outstretched arm of the military and never to give terrorism any oxygen to thrive in our nation.