The Military Task Force in Plateau State codenamed Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), has recovered over 130 illicit arms from criminal elements terrorising the operational coverage of the taskforce.
Handing over the arms to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), the OPSH Commander and General Officer Commanding 3 Division Nigerian Army Maj. -Gen Abubakar Abdulsalam said troops in their course of wiping terrorists and insurgents in its general area of dominance to arms were sized.
According to him, of the 130 illicit arms, 29 were Dane guns, 53 fabricated revolver rifles, 14 AK-47 rifle, One G3 rifle, eight locally fabricated AK-47 rifles, nine Harris Burg pistols,, 21 locally fabricated pistols, one English pistol and two locally fabricated SMG.
Others are 28 AK-47 magazines, three locally fabricated magazines, one RPG7 Tube, 1, 522 rounds of ammunition, 500 rounds of 9mm ammunitions, six cartridges and four RPG7 rockets with chargers.
He said that the small arms and light weapons, including drugs, motorcycles, vehicles were recovered through kinetic and non kinetic means in the course of the troops’ operations, adding that kidnapped victims were also rescued during the process.
Abubakar reiterated his troops’ resolve and determination check the activities of criminal elements in the society.
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He said, “As you are aware, the Federal Government of Nigeria in its determination to stop the senseless bloodletting and insecurity occasioned by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in circulation within our communities came up with a strategy of mopping up all illicit weapons. It was in this regard that the Federal Government approved the establishment of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons at all levels of the polity and to mainstream illicit small arms and light weapons eradication efforts.”
The commander said that OPSH had recorded tremendous successes in stemming the tide in circulation and by extension promote an illicit arms-free society.
Also speaking the zonal coordinator NCCSALW, Maj. Gen Hamza Ibrahim Bature who lead his team to receive the arms said this is the second time such recovered illicit arms and weapons were handed to the agency.
He expressed worries that many lives would have been wasted if the illicit arms were not recovered from these criminal elements.
Bature, who commended the efforts of operatives of OPSH in mopping up illegal weapons, solicited the cooperation of the society, including the media for the success of OPSH in information and intelligence gathering.