Police, IPOB members in shoot-out in Imo forest

The police in Imo State, south-east Nigeria, said their operatives wounded several suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) during a shoot-out with the group.

The police spokesperson in the state, Henry Okoye, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said the shoot-out occurred when police operatives raided a camp belonging to the suspected IPOB members at Uba Agwa/Izombe Tropical Rain Forest in Oguta Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson said the raid followed receipt of “actionable intelligence” that the IPOB members and their militant wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN) had reassembled at the camp to strategise on how to carry out a “dreadful crime.”

“…Operatives of the command’s tactical teams swiftly swung into action, tactically manoeuvred their way into the identified criminal hideout and raided it,” he said.

Mr Okoye said the IPOB members, on sighting the police operatives, engaged them in a shoot-out but that the hoodlums were overpowered by the superior firepower of the officers, forcing them to flee the scene with gunshot injuries.

He said the operatives discovered a shrine in the camp after the hoodlums fled.

Three automatic pump action guns, 31 rounds of live cartridges, 59 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, one police hand grenade, IPOB/ESN insignia, and police uniforms, were among the items recovered during the operation, according to the police.

Others include four different types of motorcycles, police caps and belts, military camouflage uniforms, one black travelling bag and a written phone number believed to be that of a kidnap or armed robbery victim.

IPOB is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria.