A clash between the Imo State Police Command and suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and its affiliate Eastern Security Network (ESN) has left one dead while several others sustained injuries.
According to the Police, its operatives gunned down one of the members of the proscribed group during the shootout that happened while conducting a stop-and-search duty along UBA Roundabout in Orlu, Imo State.
Giving clarifications on the development, the police spokesman in the state, CSP Michael Abattam, said its operatives wounded several others who escaped into the adjoining bushes with fatal bullet injuries.
He also noted that they abandoned their sienna vehicle, one AK47 rifle with 15 rounds of live ammunition, two English made Pump Action guns with 10 rounds of live cartridges and assorted charms.
According to the police image maker, the operatives were on duty when the hoodlums attacked and opened fire on the policemen.
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“When on 27/10/2022 at 0900hrs, luck ran against a six-man terror gang, suspected to be members of the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network (ESN), who came in a sienna vehicle with registration number ABUJA-GWA 932 CQ, and attacked the Police operatives while conducting stop and search duty along UBA Round About Orlu, Imo State.”
He said the hoodlums who came prepared, shot sporadically at the Police operatives, but were shocked by the alertness and dexterity displayed by the gallant police operatives who responded swiftly.
In the gun duel that ensued, he said the hoodlums were overwhelmed by the superior fire power of the police and in the process “one of the hoodlums was neutralised while others escaped into the adjoining bushes with fatal bullet injuries abandoning their sienna vehicle.”
According to him, all the abandoned items were recovered by the police operatives to the station, while the corpse was later deposited at a nearby mortuary.
He said that preliminary investigation conducted, revealed that, the sienna vehicle used by the suspects was snatched from its owner in Amurie Omanze in Isu Local Government Area of Imo State.
He said however, the owner of the vehicle has been contacted to come with proof of ownership for the collection of his vehicle, while the Command’s Tactical Teams had moved to arrest the fleeing suspects.