Posted on: 12:41 Sun, 29 May 2016



The Nigerian Army has arrested 10
suspected members of the militant
group, Niger Delta Avengers .

The suspects were said to have
been arrested at about 1:40am on
Saturday, in Oporaza community,
Warri South-West Local
Government Area of Delta State,
following a cordon and search
operation conducted in the
community.

Several oil installations in the
region have been vandalised by
militants suspected to be members
of the Niger Delta Avengers,
threatening the production and
supply of oil and gas in the
country.

The Commander of the 4 Brigade,
Brigadier-General Farouk Yahaya,
who paraded the suspects on
Sunday in Benin, the Edo State
capital, explained that there had
been several cases of sabotage by
suspected militants and vandals in
Delta State since January 1, 2016, as
well as further warnings and
threats “to shut down all
operations” in the sector.

He, however, noted that several
items were recovered from the
arrested suspects.

They include 28 detonator cords
(also known Detonator 33), one
pistol, two empty pistol magazines,
196 rounds of 7.62 special
ammunition, one round of nine-
millimetre ammunition, a live
cartridge and five daggers.

Also recovered were 15 handheld
radio sets, 18 phones, 203 SIM
cards of three major network
providers, five swimsuits, two
headlamps, a laptop, two ipads and
a camera.

Others are seven wraps of
substances suspected to be Indian
hemp, five speedboat throttle
cables, six pairs of hand gloves,
N23,000 cash and a cheque book.

He said that although investigation
would reveal the true identity of
the suspects, recent explosions
carried out by the Niger Delta
Avengers suggested that the
arrested suspects may be connected
to the group.

He added, “Within the period
under review, you can see that the
Niger Delta Avengers have claimed
virtually all acts of criminal
activities against oil and gas and
they continue threatening a
shutdown of the whole sector. So,
most likely, they (suspects) will be
the people, who else would they be?

Source: PunchNg