An purported camp of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), was reportedly raided last week in Enugu’s Agu-Ibeje woodland, Igbo-Eze North local government area.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the state police command’s spokesman, Daniel Ndukwe, claimed that between August 11 and 12, the Tactical Squads of the command and Operation Restore Peace conducted a tactical, intelligence-driven, dusk to dawn raid on the camp.
He continued by saying that the operation followed the crime-fighting plans developed by Abubakar Lawal, the state’s commissioner of police.
Ndukwe said: “The hoodlums, on sighting the police operatives, engaged them in a gun duel, which led to the neutralisation of one of them.
“Several others escaped with varying degrees of fatal gunshot wounds, due to the superior firepower of the operatives.
“The operation led to the discovery and exhumation from a shallow grave in the camp, the corpse of a victim identified as Johnson Okpanachi, a Police Officer serving in Igbo-Eze North Police Division.
“Okpanachi was declared missing on July 30 with all efforts made to trace his whereabouts proving abortive.
“Items recovered at the camp were 12 firearms, including one AR-K2 Assault rifle, six pump action guns, one locally-made Berretta-like pistol, and five locally-fabricated double-barrel guns.”
