From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
In a sustained onslaught on criminal elements, Enugu police operatives have raided suspected Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)/Eastern Security Network (ESN) camp, killing one member and recovering firearms, ammunition, vehicles, motorcycles and other incriminating exhibits.
The operation, which police said took place in a forest at Agu-Ibeje, in Enugu-Ezike community of Igbo-Eze North Local Government, also saw police operatives exhume the body of a missing police officer, identified as Okpanachi Johnson, who was serving in Igbo-Eze North Police Division of the Command, and had gone missing on July 30, with no trace of his whereabouts.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, said the operation was in pursuance of the crime fighting strategies devised by the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Abubakar Lawal, to rid the State of criminals and their activities.
He disclosed that police operatives drawn from Tactical Squads and Operation Restore Peace, carried out a tactical and intelligence-driven dusk-to-dawn raid of the said IPOB/ESN camp between August 11 and 12.
Ndukwe said: “The hoodlums, on sighting the operatives, engaged them in a gun duel, which led to the neutralisation of one of them, while several others escaped with varying degrees of fatal gunshot wounds, due to the superior firepower of the operatives.
“The operation led to the discovery and exhumation from a shallow grave in the camp, the body of their male victim, identified as Okpanachi Johnson, a police officer.”
Other things recovered at the camp, according to him, included 12 firearms, including one AR-K2 Assault, six Pump Action guns, one locally-made Berretta-like pistol and five locally-fabricated double barreled guns; 98 live cartridges; two machetes, one digger, one battle axe and one hacksaw; five motor vehicles, including three Toyota Sienna minivans, one Honda Pilot SUV and one Hiace (Hummer) bus loaded with assorted ankara fabrics, all reported to have been snatched from their owners at different times within the area by the hoodlums; 20 different brands of motorcycles with their plate numbers removed; one police bullet-proof vest; one pair of police camouflage uniform; one pair of military camouflage uniform with a cap and military singlet.”
The police spokesman also said that operatives of the Command on August 8, at about 9.15am, recovered two AK-47 rifles with four all loaded with a total of 64 rounds of 7.62mm caliber of live ammunition (currently in the custody of 82 Division of the Nigerian Army Enugu).
While commending the operatives for the successful execution of the operations without any casualty recorded by the Command, the commissioner, has charged them to remain focused on actualising the overall goal of ridding the state of unrepentant criminal elements.