Troops of the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) over the weekend conducted successful raid operations on identified local arms manufacturing hideout in Arhavwarien Kingdom of Ughelli South in Delta State. The Commander OPDS, Rear Admiral Apochi Suleiman disclosed this to newsmen in Yenagoa during a press briefing session on Monday.

The Commander, represented by Commander Sector One, Colonel Moses Gara revealed that during the operation, three principal suspects were apprehended following a shootout with the suspects. They are: Mr Isiyaka Uchuko, Mr Ese James and Mr Elvis Phillips. Items recovered from them included 13 short barrel local made guns, five double barrel local made guns, 10 local made pistols, three live cartridges, one empty cartridge and two rounds of 7.62 millimeter special ammunition.

In another development,Admiral Suleiman said that following a tip-off, troops arrested one 50-year-old Mathew Okafor in connection with the buying and selling of an international oil company wellhead popularly known as “Xmas Tree”, and other wellhead accessories. He added that troops also arrested a wanted oil bunkering kingpin, Mr Nkwe Godspower. He said that items recovered during Godspower's arrest included 10 cheque booklets belonging to different banks, an international passport, five different identity cards and N1,000,100.

Both suspects are under our custody undergoing preliminary investigation.

Admiral Suleiman commended the general public and the media for all the support given to troops in their efforts to achieve OPDS mandate. He appealed to members of the public to provide timely information to troops in order to get rid of criminals from the region.