Posted by By Chris Ikwunze, Port Harcourt on
The Joint Military Task Force (JTF) has given a graphic account of how the team raided and destroyed the stronghold of one of Niger Delta's most dreaded militia leaders, Ateke Tom. The target, who leads the Niger Delta Vigilance Movement, however, escaped being killed by the whiskers.
•How joint task force in Niger Delta invaded Ateke Tom's camp
The Joint Military Task Force (JTF) has given a graphic account of how the team raided and destroyed the stronghold of one of Niger Delta's most dreaded militia leaders, Ateke Tom. The target, who leads the Niger Delta Vigilance Movement, however, escaped being killed by the whiskers.
The ground for the onslaught at his Okochiri base in Okrika LGA, Rivers State, Daily Sun learnt, was laid following assault on a soldier attached to the JTF by cultists belonging to Tom's camp.
To dislodge the militants, who had made the area their stronghold, spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col Musa Sagir, said men of the JTF, at the early hours of last Monday morning, stormed Tom's Okochiri stronghold, cordoned off the area and conducted a search operation, during which arms and ammunition were recovered.
Before the final ambush by the security personnel, Daily Sun learnt that the Secretary of the Grand Alliance of Niger Delta (GAND), an amalgam of militant groups, Prince O. Amachree a.k.a Commander Ebiye, had resigned on account of alleged involvement in crime by their leader, Gen. Toru.
Lt. Col Sagir said that the raid was affected by the full compliments of the components of the JTF. He added that the ground troops were complemented by military helicopters, which hovered over the area in a surveillance mission.
Dozens of army and police uniforms in two big bags, dynamites, arms and ammunition were recovered in the house of Tom in Okochiri.
Describing the operation as the most successful ever carried out by the troops, Sagir said that the military team raided the "evil forest," where militant group train, while they searched the house of a royal father as well as the Ateke estate in Okochiri.
"We assure you that there will be no hiding place for militants in Rivers State. All through the time we stormed the place, no single shot was fired and we used aerial surveillance, while the ground troops moved and we made a lot of progress," the spokesman of the JTF said.
Sagir said that the task force was not aware that Tom and Soboma George had been pardoned and so would not relent until both militant leaders were finally apprehended.
Conducting newsmen round the dreaded "evil forest" and training camp of the militant group at Okochiri, the sector commander of the JTF, Col. Iniobono Udoh, said that Ateke Tom escaped arrest by the whiskers. He said that serious damage was done to his camp to prevent him and his boys from regrouping there. He added that platoons of soldiers were left on the ground to keep peace in the area and sustain success of the operation.
Udoh said that the security outfit would not be blinded by the success of the operations, as it would comb the area to rout exterminate the gang finally.
Apart from the huge number of recovered ammunitions, the team also recovered 199 bags of rice, 97 bags of beans, a carton of fish, two bags of salt and a deep freezer at the training camp.
Explaining why the camp and Tom's house were destroyed after the raid, Sagir said: "The factor in war is that immediately an area is captured, it is seen as a menace, so it is destroyed."
At the back of the training camp, about six speedboats, suspected to be used for illegal bunkering, were also destroyed.
Sagir said the creek, where the group uses for illegal bunkering activities, was exposed by some of the villagers who saw the activities of the group as a menace.
At Ateke Tom's house, a bungalow building located on a more than three plots of land, items recovered include dynamite, bullets, charms and two vehicles, including a bullet-proof Toyota Camry saloon car.