The
Media Coordinator, JTF, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, while briefing
reporters on the task force operations on Tuesday, said the development
had forced the security outfit to establish a base in the community.
He
said kidnappers, pirates and militants operated conveniently in
Azuzuama and its environs because of their difficult terrains.
He
added that criminals from Edo, Delta and other states, including
foreigners, were using the area to unleash terror on the region.
He
said, “The place is a safe haven for criminals. Criminals from outside
the country even have hideouts in Azuzuama and that is why we are
maintaining military presence in the area. The community needs to help
us.
“The deployment in Azuzuama is robust and comprises all
components of the JTF for operational effectiveness. The troops are
fully on the ground and their impact is already being felt given the
general atmosphere of calm and security that prevails in the area.”
Describing
the killing of the 12 police officers in the community by gunmen as
strange, Nwachukwu said the incident triggered the ongoing military
operation in the council.
He also noted that the JTF operatives
had arrested two persons in connection with the recent killings of eight
persons in Lobia.
Meanwhile, the military JTF in Rivers, on
Tuesday said it had put in place new strategies to stop illegal
bunkering, pipeline vandalism and sundry crimes in the state.
The
Commander of the Army 2 Brigade and Sector Two of JTF, Brig.-Gen.
Osasogie Uzamere, stated this at the Brigade’s 2013 annual range
classification exercise in Igwuruta.
Uzamere said JTF had
uncovered new techniques used by oil thieves to sabotage the nation’s
economy and as such, renewed its tactics to ensure its proficiency to
combat illegal bunkering.