Police Operatives of the Command drawn from Tactical Squads and Operation Restore Peace, between 11th and 12th August 2022 carried out a tactical and intelligence-driven dusk to dawn raid of IPOB/ESN camp in a forest at Agu-Ibeje in Enugu-Ezike community of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area.
The hoodlums on sighting the operatives, according to the Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Daniel Ndukwe (DSP) engaged them in a gun duel, which led to the neutralization of one of them while several others escaped with varying degrees of fatal gunshot wounds, due to the superior firepower of the operatives.
Ndukwe said that the operation led to the discovery and exhumation from a shallow grave in the camp, the corpse of their male victim identified as Okpanachi Johnson, a Police Officer serving in Igbo-Eze North Police Division of the Command, who had gone missing on 30/07/2022, with all effort made to trace his whereabouts proving abortive.
Also recovered at the Camp are twelve firearms, including one AR-K2 Assault, six Pump Action guns, one locally-made Berretta-like pistol and five locally-fabricated double-barreled guns; ninety-eight live cartridges; two Machetes, one Digger, one Battle axe and one Hacksaw; five motor vehicles, including three Toyota Sienna minivans, one Honda Pilot Jeep 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; twenty 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.
Others he said include: one piece of red-black-green coloured clothing identified as Biafra flag and another five pieces of masquerade-like attires of the said flag colours; one HP laptop with its bag; twenty two different brands of mobile phones; six different brands of Mp3 players; one Canon camera, six torchlights,
Three rolls of cello-tapes; one air pumping machine; one small yellow-coloured generating set; fifteen fabric armless and fiveplastic chairs; a set of musical equipment, including band set, piano, guiter and speakers, the hoodlums are alleged to have stolen after invading a church in the area; seven school bags; one Camp bed and twenty pieces of table spoons.
“In a related development, the Police Operatives, on 08/08/2022 at about 9.15am, recovered two (2) AK-47 rifles with four (4) all loaded with a total of sixty four (64) rounds of 7.62mm caliber of live ammunition (currently in the custody of 82 Division of the Nigerian Army Enugu), one (1) locally-made cut-to-size gun, one (1) Dane gun, one (1) Lexus RX 330 and one (1) RX 300 Jeeps, one Honda Pilot Jeep, twenty five (25) machetes, two (2) axes, one (1) dagger, four (4) phones, a Military camouflage uniform, two (2) Forest uniform trousers and fetish items suspected to be charms.” Ndukwe stressed.
