On August 11 and 12, 2022, police officers from the command’s tactical squads and Operation Restore Peace conducted a tactical, intelligence-driven dusk-to-dawn raid on an IPOB/ESN camp in a forest at Agu-Ibeje in Enugu-Ezike Community of Igbo-Eze North Local Government in accordance with the crime fighting strategies developed by the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, CP Abubakar Lawal.
According to the police spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, the hoodlums engaged the operatives in a gun fight after seeing them and one of them was neutralized while several others managed to flee with deadly bullet wounds due to the operatives’ superior firepower.
Ndukwe claimed that the operation resulted in the discovery and exhumation of the body of their male victim, Okpanachi Johnson, a police officer assigned to the Igbo-Eze North Police Division of the command, who had vanished and for whom all efforts to ascertain his whereabouts had proven fruitless.
He added that police found the following items at the camp: 12 firearms, including an AR-K2 Assault, six pump action rifles, a locally made pistol that resembled a Beretta, and five locally made double-barreled rifles; 98 live rounds; two machetes, a digger, a battle axe, and a hacksaw.
Five motor vehicles, including three Toyota Sienna minivans, one Honda Pilot Jeep, and one Hiace (Hummerall reported to have been snatched from their owners at different times within the area by the hoodlums; 20 different brands of motorcycles with their plate numbers removed; one Police bullet-proof vest; one pair of Police Camouflage uniform; one pair of military camouflage uniform with a cap and military singlet.
“Others include: one piece of red-black-green colour clothing identified as Biafra flag and another five pieces of masquerade-like attires of the said flag colours; one HP laptop with its bag; 22 different brands of mobile phones; six different brands of Mp3 players
Also recovered were one Canon camera, six torch lights, three rolls of cello-tapes; one air pumping machine; one small yellow-colour generating set; 15 fabric armless and five plastic chairs; a set of musical equipment, including band set, piano, guiter and speakers, the hoodlums are alleged to have stolen after invading a church in the area; seven school bags; one camp bed and 21 pieces of table spoons,” Ndukwe disclosed.
