Police gun down two suspected ESN members in Imo

The Imo State Police Command has claimed that it has killed two suspected criminals, who allegedly cut off the manhood of an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ukam Efut, at a checkpoint in Agwa, Oguta Local Government Area of the state, on Tuesday.

The command’s spokesman, Michael Abattam, said preliminary investigation suggested that the slain suspects and their fleeing accomplices were members of the Eastern Security Network, the militant wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

Abattam also disclosed that two locally-made double-barrelled guns with seven live cartridges and 10 expended cartridges were recovered at the scene of the crime.

While extending the sympathies of the state Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Berde, to the family of the slain ASP, the police spokesperson advised members of the public to be on the lookout for people with bullet wound injuries and swiftly report them to the nearest police station.

The statement read in part, “On May 3, 2022, around 4.05pm, while policemen attached to the Agwa Divisional Headquarters were conducting a stop-and-search duty, armed bandits suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network, in their numbers emerged from the surrounding bushes shooting indiscriminately at the policemen, who swiftly took cover and responded, engaging them in a fierce gun duel, while they called for backup from the Divisional Police Headquarters, Agwa in the Oguta LGA of Imo State.

“The command’s tactical teams stationed in the area on receipt of the distress call immediately rushed to the scene. On arrival, they positioned themselves strategically and professionally, and engaged the hoodlums in a fire fight.

“For the operatives’ superior firepower and number, they were able to neutralise two of the hoodlums, while others fled in disarray with bullet wounds into the bush. The police operatives tactically chased the hoodlums and combed the bush for possible recovery of their arms and the arrest of the fleeing suspects.  However, two locally-made double-barrelled guns with seven lives cartridges and 10 expended cartridges were recovered at the scene.