The police in Imo State, south-east Nigeria, said they have arrested nine suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who allegedly killed five officers and a couple in the state.
The police spokesperson in the state, Henry Okoye, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how gunmen, on 21 April, killed the officers at a restaurant in Ulakwo, a community in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of the state and also killed the couple.
Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said police operatives, led by Odeyeyiwa Oladimeji, a superintendent of police, on 24 April at about 5:30 p.m. arrested one of the suspects, Mathew Chukwuma, 48, at his hideout in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
The police spokesperson said the arrest of Mr Chukwuma, an indigene of Mpam in Ahaizu Mbaise Council Area of Imo State, was in response to a directive to the operatives by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ahmed Barde, to track down the killers of the officers and the couple.
He said Mr Chukwuma, the suspect, confessed to being the sector commander of the syndicate of the IPOB and its militant wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN) in Mbaise Community in the state and subsequently assisted the operatives in arresting three members of his syndicate at their criminal hideout, while others escaped.
Mr Okoye gave the names of the three other arrested suspects as, Ikechukwu Ojoko, 53, Charles Chilaka, 44, and Anthony Iwu, 50 — all males and indigenes of Umuokiria Community in Ahaizu Mbaise Local Government Area of the state.
“In the course of the investigation, the suspects all confessed to being members of the dreadful IPOB/ESN syndicate terrorizing the good people of Imo State and had a hand in the recent killing of five police officers and two civilians at Ngor Okpala (Council Area),” he said.
One cut-to-size AK-47 rifle, 190 rounds of live 7.62 mm ammunition, two AK-47 magazines, two cut-to-size double barrel guns, and one locally fabricated beretta pistol were recovered from the suspects during the operation, according to the police.
The police spokesperson said the arrested suspects “volunteered crucial information that assisted” the operatives to arrest four other suspected IPOB members at their second hideout at about 12:40 a.m. on 27 April in Itu, a community in Ezinitte Mbaise Local Government Area of the state.
“On sighting the operatives, the notorious criminal syndicate engaged them in a fierce gun duel but were overpowered by the super firepower of the combat-ready tactical squad which forced them to disarray and resulted in the arrest of four other suspects,” Mr Okoye said.
He gave their names as, Damian Ibe, 50, Simon Iwuala, 31, Nwabueze Ahiwe, 47, and Paul Obali, 70 – all males and indigenes of the state.
He added that Mr Obali, one of the arrested suspects, is the chief priest of the syndicate and that their second hideout also served as their shrine.
One AK-47 rifle, three pump action guns, two single barrel locally made guns, one locally made pistol, one cut-to-size gun, 50 rounds of 7.66mm live ammunition, 38 rounds of live cartridges, two AK-47 magazines and a walkie-talkie were among the items recovered from the suspects during the operation, the police said.
Others included: Two locally made explosive devices, one iPhone, one H-mobile, three cow horns painted with Biafran Insignia, two Biafran Jewish caps and a Jewish flag, large quantities of weeds suspected to be cannabis sativa and other fetish objects.
“Frantic investigating efforts are on top gear to arrest other syndicate members at large and make them face the wrath of the law,” the police spokesperson said.
He said the arrested suspects had been on the wanted list of the police in the state “due to their nefarious activities,” and that some members of the syndicate escaped with various degrees of gunshot injuries.
The total number of the arrested suspects was eight, according to the statement, but the police spokesperson when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, insisted that a total of nine, not eight, were arrested so far.
The Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Mr Barde, commended the operatives for “a job well done,” stressing that policing is “collective business,” Mr Okoye said.
Mr Barde appealed to residents of the state to support the police and other security agencies in the fight against crime and to report to the police “any suspicious activity or person” seen with or treating gunshot injury.
The Nigerian government has accused IPOB, which is leading the agitation for the independence of Biafra, of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the South-east. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
