SECURITY agencies under the aegis of the Joint Task Force (JTF) have been deployed to strategic oil services companies in Rivers State following the kidnap of a Dutch construction worker by suspected militants in Port Harcourt yesterday.
The Information Officer, 2nd Amphibious Brigade, Major
Musa Sagir, who disclosed this to The Guardian, said the JTF has deployed its men in creeks as well to search for the kidnapped Dutchman, (name withheld).
Sources in Abuloma community in Port Harcourt, disclosed that militants in the early hours of yesterday stormed the construction yard of a German company, Bilfinger Berger (B&B). The sources added that after a gun duel with security men deployed to the company, the militants succeeded in kidnapping the Dutch said to be B&B Security Co-ordinator.
Similarly, some gunmen suspected to be militants made a vain attempt to invade the premises of a South Korean firm, Deawoo at Onne, following what Sagir described as “swift resistance’ by men of the JTF and the local residents.
To forestall the possible attack and kidnap of expatriates around the Onne, Sagir said scores of military men comprising the Navy, Airforce and the Army had been deployed to the area.
According to him, “the local people on their own are assisting the JTF in trying to locate the hideout of the kidnappers. There are no casualties on both sides.
JTF has deployed its men around Abuloma. We have deployed our men to Deawoo. There was a shoot out. But you know we are bound to defend ourselves and possibly arrest the militants and retrieve the weapons with them.”