Niger Delta communities harbouring vandals risk collateral damage 'JTF

Authorities of the Joint Task Force (JTF), also known as Operation Pulo Shield, on Sunday, warned communities in the Niger Delta region against providing shelter for pipeline vandals and other criminals involved in sabotaging oil installations in their areas.It stressed that any individual or community that failed to eject criminals stood the risk of suffering from collateral damage anytime its operatives moved against vandals who were attacking oil facilities in the South-South.Reacting to Saturday's attack on Agip Brass-Bonny pipelines in a statement signed by its media coordinator, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Antigha, JTF condemned the development in view of what it portended for the region.It tasked the people of the Niger Delta region 'to rise up and join security agencies to defeat the evil that was rearing its head, by giving timely and accurate information on these charlatans through the usual channels'According to the statement, 'the JTF warns that there could be collateral damage, if individuals and communities decide to provide sanctuary to these enemies of the society.'While debunking claims that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta region (MEND) was behind the attack on Agip Brass-Bonny pipelines, JTF advised the people 'to be mindful of individuals who are out to swindle them by wrongfully appropriating the identity of the erstwhile leadership of MEND to curry sympathy for their selfish and criminal interest.''The JTF wishes to observe that not too long ago, the Niger Delta region was almost plunged into the abyss by agitation for the development of the region.
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