The Nigerian Air Force has said over N400m was spent to fuel fighter jets deployed in its operations to combat the Boko Haram terror activities in the North-East between July and September 2017.

The Air Component Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Air Commodore Tajudeeen Yusuf, said this in Maiduguri, Borno State, during a briefing to discuss the successes and challenges recorded by the component during the third quarter.

According to him, the air force fighter aircraft flew for a total of 1,551 hours and 39 minutes within the period under review.

Yusuf, who noted that a total of 842 missions were conducted in the period under review, said: “The air efforts in the third quarter of 2017 as compared to the previous quarter show an increase in activities based on the upsurge of day and night Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance as well as Armed Reece sorties to identify targets for interdiction.

“We also conducted several missions in support of ground troops.

“Overall, from July to September 2017, a total of 842 missions were conducted in 1,162 sorties with a total of 1,551 hours and 39 minutes flown by the various platforms. For all these sorties, a total of 1,596,165 litres of Jet-A1 was consumed, which translates to a fuel cost of N399,041,250.”

Some eleven fake naval officers who are said to have been parading themselves as Nigerian Navy personnel with different ranks in River State, have been arrested by the gallant officials of Nigerian Airforce around the Rukpokwu Police checkpoint in the state.

Speaking on Wednesday while handing over the suspects to the Rivers Police Command, the outgoing Commander NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Sanusi Ibrahim, disclosed that the suspects disguised as “merchant navy” with the aim of defrauding the public and some companies in the state.

According to Ibrahim, the Air Force, who had earlier detected the suspects and later arrested them, handed over the fake naval personnels to the Nigerian Navy.

“On June 17, the Air Police of the 97 Special Operations Group, Nigerian Air Force Port Harcourt, arrested 11 civilians around  the Rukpokwu police checkpoint parading themselves as naval personnel.

“The Air Force police later handed over the suspects to us (Navy) to enable us  to ascertain if they were truly naval personnel, among other details.

“During investigation, the suspects claimed that they were  merchant navy personnel, and which further findings revealed the organisation was fictitious,” he said.