From Tony John, Port Harcourt

Hoodlums numbering about 50 yesterday afternoon ransacked Eagle Island,Timber, Echue and Iloabouchi  in Diobu, Port Harcourt City Local Government Area (PHALGA) of Rivers State, robbing passers-by and looting shops.

Daily Sun gathered that the rampaging hoodlums were members of a suspected cult group, whose member was reportedly hacked to death last Sunday night, by a faction of the same cult group, at one of the waterfronts in Mile 2 Diobu.

A witness, Peter Rowland, who ran into the rampaging hoodlums, disclosed that there was pandemonium, as people scampered for safety.

Rowland said the hoodlums were armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons, unleashing mayhem on people in the vicinity while searching for their rivals.

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The source said he escaped death by the whiskers, adding that many passers-by and shop owners sustained injuries, while attempting to escape from the areas.

It was further learnt that six police patrol vehicles which included Operation Delta Flush, belonging to Diobu Divisional Police Headquarters, Mile 1, had taken over the affected volatile areas to forestall breakdown of law and order.

Meanwhile, the state police command said there were no casualties recorded in the incident.

Spokesperson for the command, Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police (SP), who made the disclosure, said tactical units of the Force were deployed to areas to restore normalcy and apprehend the hoodlums.