IPOB: Police ask hospitals for assistance while treating gunshot victims
Two members of the Indigenous People of Biafra’s security group, the Eastern Security Network, were slain during a raid on their camp, according to the Enugu State Police Command.
In a statement on Sunday, the command’s spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, said that the fighters engaged police officers in a gunfight but ultimately submitted to overwhelming firepower.
He said that several IPOB fighters had fled after suffering bullet wounds, and he urged hospitals in Enugu State to keep an eye out and notify the authorities if any patients showed signs of gunshot wounds.
According to Ndukwe, the intelligence-driven operation was executed on March 30 at approximately 2:30 a.m. by command personnel assigned to the Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad.
He claimed the camp that was raided was located in the state’s Enugu South Local Government Area, in the Akwuke community.
Nevertheless, the renegades resisted the operatives and fired back when they spotted them, but the operatives’ superior firepower defeated them.
“While others managed to flee with various degrees of gunshot wounds, two of the IPOB criminal elements were neutralized,” Ndukwe stated.
He said that the raid was carried out in accordance with Easter-specific crime prevention plans developed by Kanayo Uzuegbu, Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command.
During the operation, he claimed to have found one AK-47 rifle, one submachine gun, one stainless pump-action gun, and 27 live and 23 expended rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition.
“Five live cartridges and a small blue Gideon New Testament bible used to conceal objects suspected to be a charm were also recovered,” the speaker stated.
Because the recovered AK-47’s magazine bore the Nigeria Police Force’s color, a preliminary examination found that the weapon’s breech number had been removed and that criminal elements were behind multiple attacks and the taking of police officers’ guns. There are currently active covert investigations.
In the meantime, the Commissioner of Police has reiterated the command’s unshakable commitment to purging Enugu State of lawbreakers who have not yet expressed regret, even as he commends the operators for their operational achievement.
However, he asks for the public’s ongoing assistance and exhorts everyone to report anyone found to have a gunshot wound to the authorities, especially medical facility proprietors.
