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.….New CP fights back, eliminates two gunmen in swift response
The renewed reign of terror by a gang of gunmen suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), took another life last week.
This is also as the Imo state police Command seemed to have awakened from slumber and renewed it’s onslaught on hoodlums, with the arrival of the new police Commissioner to the state.
The fresh police action followed the gruesome murder of a prominent Uba community member in Umuaka, which had thrown the area into tension and massive outrage.
No fewer than nine gunmen from the notorious Ezioha terror camp, last week stormed the Uba community on three motorcycles. Led by a wanted local bomb expert known as “SpareKey,” the assailants were on the trail of a senior member of the community’s vigilante group, simply identified as Ekene.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that the gunmen, acting on intelligence, narrowly missed Ekene at a youth meeting venue. In frustration, they sped to his residence, broke in, and sprayed his rooms with bullets. Failing to find their primary target, the gang turned their attention to a kinsman of Ekene, Charles Okoro, popularly known as “Chako.”
Local sources told our reporter that the attackers dragged a half-dressed Chako from his room. Despite the gunmen wearing masks, Chako allegedly identified SpareKey and demanded to know why he and his group were after him. The gunmen ignored his pleas, took him to a desolate part of Uba community, and executed him with multiple bullets.
The killing of Chako sent shockwaves through Umuaka, prompting an immediate and decisive response from the state’s new Commissioner of Police. The CP swiftly convened tactical heads and handpicked combat-ready officers, dispatching them in pursuit of the fleeing gang.
The swift response paid off within 24 hours. Police operatives laid an ambush that engaged the gunmen in a fierce gun battle.
On February 24 across Amaocha Afara, Umunoha, and Ifakala in Mbaitoli and Njaba Local Government Areas, police tactical teams acting on actionable intelligence engaged the terrorists.
The encounter led to the neutralization of two sub-commanders identified only as “A-Minute,” a native of Ebonyi State, and “Nwaotu,” from Mkpoku in Mbaitoli LGA. These two were confirmed to be part of the gang that had been terrorising the area.
The police recovered some firearms from the scene, including two automatic pump-action guns, nine live cartridges, six spent cartridges, and a walkie-talkie.
Authorities confirmed that no police personnel was harmed during the operations. The remaining members of the gang are believed to have fled with various degrees of injuries, and efforts are ongoing to track them down, apprehend the elusive mastermind, SpareKey and other terror kingpins in the area.
