- Nigerian Air Force reports successful interdiction of illegal refining sites and terrorist hideouts in Niger Delta and North East regions
- Strikes target criminal elements destabilizing the country; NAF emphasizes need for public collaboration in providing actionable information
According to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), the air component of Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) and Operation Hadin Kai successfully interdicted illegal refining sites and terrorist hideouts in the Niger Delta and North East regions.
This is according to a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet.
Gabkwet stated that the air interdictions were part of ongoing efforts to limit the activities of terrorists, militants, and other criminal elements bent on destabilizing the country and making life unbearable for peace-loving Nigerians.
He stated that on August 27, the OPDS air component conducted air interdiction missions on some illegal refining sites located at Cawthorne Channels, Bille, and Gogokori in Rivers’ Degema Local Government Area.
He claimed that illegal refining sites in the area had been attacked and destroyed.
He also claimed that a Cotonou boat seen loading illegal refined products and heading into open waters was intercepted and destroyed at Gogokori.
Similar strikes were also carried out in Idama, AkukuToru Local Government Area, and Omoma, Degema Local Government Area, Rivers, he said, following intelligence of refining activities at the two locations.
Gabkwet stated that active illegal refining sites with reservoirs suspected of containing illegally refined products were sighted overhead at both locations, adding that the reservoirs were then engaged, destroyed, and engulfed in flames.
He claimed that on August 25, the air component of OPDS attacked militant/pirate camps known as Big Joe’s Camp, Sunny’s Camp, Davids’ Camp in Bakassi Local Government Area, and Amos Camps in Calabar South Local Government Area in Cross River.
He also stated that the air strikes were authorized after confirming these criminals’ locations and activities.
Those that attempted to escape through their various escape routes were also attacked.
In one of the suspected kidnappers’ camps, a lone structure suspected to be harbouring some kidnapped victims with armed men roaming around the structure was also attacked using guns on board the aircraft.
The strikes led to pandemonium with several kidnapped victims seen escaping, he said.
In the Northeast, a NAF spokesman said that strikes were carried out on August 25 at Chinene, a persistent terrorist hideout in the Mandara mountains that had previously been targeted.
He stated that the location was attacked, and several terrorists were neutralized after observing that the area had consistently hosted gatherings of terrorists and their activities, adding that others fled for their lives.
According to him, NAF aircraft have continued to provide the desired result while denying non-state actors the freedom to commit heinous acts at will.
While the NAF alongside other security agencies remain focused in undertaking their assigned tasks, the need for all Nigerians to see themselves as part of the solution to these challenges through the provision of actionable information to security agencies cannot be overemphasised, he urged.