Troops of the Joint Tasks Force code named “Operation Delta Safe” have discovered shrines in Cross River State suspected to be that of militants with 23 human skulls in various stages of decomposition.
They also found a complete human skeleton and several other human body parts in the four shrines discovered during clearance operations in the State.
In a statement the operation said it would sustain efforts to fulfill its mandate to rid the Niger Delta region of crude oil theft, sea robbery, all forms of criminality and protection of oil and gas infrastructure.
The statement by the Coordinator Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lieutenant Colonel Olaolu Daudu, reveals that troops of Sector 2, Operation Delta Safe in Bayelsa State acting on intelligence, also trailed a group of people which led to the arrest of 44 members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
They were apprehended at Lakeview Club along Mabinton Estate, Okaka road in Yenagoa the capital of the state.
Four Militants Shrines
The group, according to the troops was planning to establish Bayelsa State Chapter of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra group and disrupt public peace within the State.
While carrying out a raid in Ikot Ene Idem, Abakpa and Ikang Inam in Bakassi and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas of the State, the troops of Sector 4 of Operation Delta Safe in Cross River State discovered four militant shrines.
Two suspects were arrested while on patrol at Idebe Ifak Anam, Ikot Okon Edem and Abakpa of Bakassi Local Government Area in Cross River State.
The statement says Preliminary investigation revealed that the arrested suspects were agents of Bakassi Strike Force Militants who act as spies.
In another operation, troops of Sector 3, Operation Delta Safe in Rivers State, following a distress call from Finima in Bonny of an attack by some cult members using AK 47 riffles to terrorise members of the community, raided the hideout of the cultist.
The suspected king pin popularly referred to as Eagle Face dived into the river on sighting troops.
Two of the suspected cult members were arrested while one locally made pistol, one machete and two handsets were recovered.
According to the military statement, the body of the suspected king pin was later seen floating in the creeks by locals who recovered and buried the corpse at Bonny River bank.
The Acting Commander of the Tasks Force, Brigadier General Kevin Aligbe, has reassured residents and oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region of their safety and advised that they should go about their legitimate businesses.
Militant activities had resurged in the Niger Delta region last year, with militants attacking oil installations in the region.
A group that calls itself the Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.
They had said they agreed to a ceasefire and would begin negotiation with the Federal Government but later resumed attacks, claiming it was launched as a warning to the military to stop harassing youths in the Niger Delta.