Police kill five gunmen, arrest ‘IPOB native doctor,’ 146 others

The police in Imo State, South-east Nigeria, say they have killed five gunmen terrorising residents of the state.

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Henry Okoye, the police spokesperson in the state, in a statement on Sunday said police operatives killed the gunmen during security operations in the last two months in the state.

Mr Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, said the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Aboki Danjuma, authorised the operations which have resulted in significant successes in combating crime.

“In the course of the operations, five armed suspects were neutralised during fierce gun battles with police operatives, and seven kidnapped victims were successfully rescued,” the police spokesperson said.

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Arrest of IPOB native doctor, 146 others

Mr Okoye said, in a separate operation, police operatives arrested 147 crime suspects for various offences in the state.

The spokesperson said the offences included

armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape, stealing, receiving stolen property, child trafficking and terrorism.

He said a 37-year-old native doctor Ozioma Ihedoro, who had been on the wanted list of the police, was among those arrested.

Mr Okoye said Mr Ihedoro has confessed to being the spiritual adviser to a commander of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militant wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

The IPOB/ESN commander is known as “B44,” according to the police.

“A search of his shrine recovered an AK-47 rifle, three magazines, and seven live rounds. He is cooperating with investigators, providing intelligence to dismantle other syndicates at large,” Mr Okoye stated.

The spokesperson said, in another operation on 19 May, the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the police arrested three male armed robbery suspects.

He gave their names as Chinonso Anayo, 24, Emmanuel John, 21, and Ifeanyi John, 20 – all indigenes of Ishiagu Community in Ivo Council Area of Ebonyi, another state in the South-east.

Mr Okoye said police operatives from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad arrested the suspects in collaboration with their colleagues from Njaba Divisional Police Headquarters.

“They were apprehended during a surveillance operation and confessed to multiple robberies. Police recovered one Q-Link motorcycle, two pump action guns, and fifteen live cartridges,” he said.

Seven AK-47 rifles, three AK-47 magazines, seven pump action guns, seven locally fabricated long guns, and 178 live cartridges were among items recovered from the suspects during the separate operations, the police said.

Others were three motorcycles, various denominations of illegal Biafra currency, four Biafra flags, and several charms.

Mr Okoye said the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Mr Danjuma, has commended the operatives for the successful operations.

The police commissioner stressed that the state command was committed, alongside other security agencies, to safeguarding lives and property of people in the South-eastern state.

Mr Danjuma assured that security measures had been strengthened across the state to eliminate kidnapping and violent crimes.

The police chief urged residents to remain vigilant and report to the police any suspicious activities for action.

Increased attacks

Like other states in Nigeria’s South-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.

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Hundreds of persons have been killed or abducted and several others injured in some of such attacks in the region.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly accused IPOB of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region.

But the group has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.

IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.

For several years, Nigeria’s security operatives, mainly the Nigerian Army and the police, have been engaging IPOB fighters in fierce battle to suppress their secessionist agitation.