A top commander of the Urhobo/Isoko
militant group, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), has
been nabbed by the operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the
oil-rich region, code-named Operation Delta Safe.
Security sources told THISDAY last
night that the high profile suspect was apprehended on Sunday after
diligent surveillance by JTF operatives.
The suspect, whose name could not be
ascertained at the time of this report, was said to have been arrested
along with four of his foot soldiers.
THISDAY learnt that the militant
commander was one of the culprits behind incessant attacks on oil and
gas trunk-lines in Ughelli and its environs in Delta State.
It was learnt that soldiers attached to
the 222 Battalion, Ughelli, stepped up a massive manhunt for the members
of NDGJM since last Saturday, after the group claimed it breached the
Iwhremaro trunk-line in Ughelli North Local Government Area on Friday
night.
“We stepped up action when the group
again claimed it vandalised another pipeline and it paid off with the
arrest of one of their kingpins along with four other militants,” a top
security source said.
The group had in a statement signed by
its spokesman, Aldo Agbalaja, on Friday said: “At about 2100hours of
Thursday October 13, 2016, the Akuma Strike Team of the Niger Delta
Greenland Justice Mandate brought down the Iwhremaro to the Quality
Control Centre (QCC) delivery line to signal the commencement of
Operation Hammurabi Code.”
It said more of such attacks would come
in the days ahead, warning that it had been patient and reasonable all
along, hence its decision to restrict the group’s activities to minor
operations that were not aimed at causing critical damages.
True to its threat, NDGJM, in less than
24 hours, claimed it attacked the trunk-line in Ughelli North prompting
the military to lunch a manhunt for the culprits behind the spates of
the attacks.
The acting JTF spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Otuji, confirmed the arrests to THISDAY monday.
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