Troops of Operation Udoka in the South-East have arrested a suspected “founding father” of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Pius Iguh and others.

A commander of the IPOB identified as Emmanuel Onwugu was also arrested in Mbano local government area of Abia State.

According to the Defence Headquarters, the arrest was carried out in a sting operation in Orsu area of Imo State and Arochukwu area of the Abia State.

This was disclosed by the Director of Defence Media Operations Major Gen Edward Buba, Thursday, in Abuja during the bi-weekly briefing of the DHQ which gives an overview of successes recorded by the military.

“In the South-East, the troops of Operation Udoka, Forward Operational Base (FOB), Orsu, in a sting operation, apprehended a terrorist leader belonging to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its Eastern Security Network (ESN) terrorist group known as Mr Pius Iguh. He is an IPOB founding father responsible for the Orsu general area in Imo State,” he said.

“Also in a separate development, troops of FOB Amaruku conducted a raid on an Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) commanders’ location. The raid was successful and led to the arrest of the commander identified as Emmanuel Onwugu in Mbano Local Government Area of Abia State.”

According to him, troops also arrested another suspect Ifeanyi Rock who is a “notorious cult leader”.

He said the operation which was in collaboration with security forces “led to the arrest of a notorious cult leader named Ifeanyi Rock and ten of his commanders in the Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State”.

Major General Buba said the DHQ also recovered some items and weapons from the operations in the South-East.

This is just as troops rescued 76 kidnap victims during the week under review.

He said troops neutralised 140 terrorists and arrested 135 of them during their operations.

“We will continue to do more of that,” he said.

In the war against crude oil theft, he said the troops arrested 18 suspected perpetrators of crude oil theft.

According to him, troops in the Niger Delta recovered over 1,122,710 litres of stolen crude oil and over 557,210 litres of illegally refined AGO better known as diesel.

They also destroyed illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta region.