The Ebonyi Police Command announced on Friday that no fewer than 15 people had been detained on suspicion of carrying out the Tuesday shootings in the Abakaliki metropolis’s New Market and Ishieke neighborhoods by purported members of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
As they were firing, the suspects made people follow a sit-at-home order issued by a breakaway IPOB faction, which caused terror among the locals and forced them to stay inside for five days, from July 3 to July 7, 2023.
Faleye Olayele, the state’s commissioner of police, told reporters in Abakaliki on Friday that two herbalists, Okwudili Otozi and Nnenna Ali, were among the 15 suspects taken into custody.
“They have attacked our area commander and burnt our vehicle. They have been terrorizing the state. On July 4, they came to Ishieke firing sporadically and that was on Tuesday.J
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“I want to tell you that 15 of them have been apprehended. We recovered arms and charms of different kinds,” he said.
The police boss said the suspects were preparing for another attack on Friday when they were arrested by operatives of the command.
“This shows that our officers are dedicated to their duties; the arrest was made possible by our men through the information we got,” he said.
One of the herbalists, Otozi, however, said he was forced to join the gang.
“I did not know that they wanted to operate in Ebonyi; they came to me and requested for medicine and I gave it to them, after which they forced me to join them to the bush for further preparations.
“Please, I was forced to follow them after I gave them the medicine,” he claimed.
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