- Destroyed hotel, residential building, shops belong to alleged financier, supporter of IPOB/ESN
The Joint Task Force (JTF) comprising operatives of military and para-military agencies have arrested and paraded 26 Indigenous People of Biafra Eastern Security Network IPOB/ESN members who were responsible for the attacks on Governor Hope Uzodinma’s hometown, Omuma and the Njaba Police facilities in Imo State.
The 26 include seven females and 19 males.
The security operatives had engaged in a gun duel with the IPOB/ESN members Saturday, repelling their attack on the Police station.
In the process, they apprehended one of the suspects, Emmanuel Nnaji, a native of Awala, Ideato South Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State, who sustained bullet wounds.
Upon interrogation by the security operatives, Nnaji spilled the beans on the alleged IPOB/ESN operations, revealing that a hotel located in Orlu was the hideout where the bandits sought refuge, planned, before they execute their nefarious activities on police facilities.
He also disclosed that the owner of the Hotel has been accommodating and assisting them financially. He led security operatives to the location of the hotel where the 26 suspects were arrested.
Sources confirmed that the burning down of a hotel, a residential house and about 15 shops in Okporo and Obor communities, Umutanze Orlu, Imo State, on Sunday was as a result of the information from the suspects.
Security agents operating in about 15 vehicles, including an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), supervised the burning of the residential and business facilities before they left.
The burnt Ezeacho Hotel, located on the Okporo Mgbidi Road behind St Damian’s Hospital Mortuary, Okporo, is owned by a businessman, Chinonso Uba, who is alleged to be a financier and supporter of IPOB/ESN. Also, the residential home burnt in Obor community is the hotelier’s country home.
Some of the ammunition recovered and paraded by the Police include, one AK-47 rifle with two magazines loaded with 55 rounds of live ammunition, 5 pump action guns, 2 double barrel cut to size guns, 4 double barrel locally-made pistols, 3 single barrel locally made pistols, 8 live cartridges, charms, 2 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, Biafran flag and beret, ESN cap, four pairs of army camouflage uniforms and a camouflage bag.
The Police noted that “it was in the same hotel that the head of a young man was severed and placed on the road close to the hotel premises.”
In a statement by CSP Micheal Abbatam, investigation is ongoing and the suspects are undergoing interrogation.
