Two members of the Movement for the Actualisationof the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) were said to have been kiled yesterday by a combined team of Police and the Military Personel currently patroling the troubled commercial city of Anambra state,Onitsha.
Sixty-Nine others were arrested at their alleged hide out in Silas works road in Fegge, Onitsha South Local Government Area yesterday.
However the Police have confirmed that four of their men including an Inspector have been abducted by MASSOB members at Nkpor in Idemili North Local Government Area, while a 75 mm rocket propelled bomb which was laid on the ground has been discovered, at Akpaka forest.
The Acting Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Haruna John who disclosed this yesterday during a Press Conference said they would leave no stone unturned until their men were recovered dead or alive.
Haruna said that �we are also embarking on a joint operation with the military to rid the motor parks of all manner of touts, adding that he had summoned the leaders of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to a meeting tomorrow at the state police command in Amawbia, which would be held at 10 am and 2pm respectively.
This, according to him, a marching order would be given to them to quit the motor parks, immediately, noting that police and army intend to effect that order rigorously and effectively before the week runs out.
He said �We believe that these are some of the hoodlums who are operating under the cover of MASSOB to continue unleashing mayhem on the police and innocent citizens of the state.
The acting Plice Commissioner confirmed that two days ago, an Inspector of police who served at Ogidi who had returned to see his family in the evening, but as at 8 pm when the wife phoned him to come home, he said the miscreants answered and told the wife that they had seized the husband.
Haruna explained that in the cause of the operation carried out yesterday by the police command and the army, two suspected MASSOB hench men were gunned down when according to him, they were trying to engage the operatives in a gun battle with a view to escaping, adding that their bodies had been deposited to the mortuary.
He also stated that some fighting equipment were recovered from them which include five assorted firearms, two pump action guns with ammunition, two double barreled guns with assorted cartridges and most interestingly, an A-K 47 riffle which according to him was taken from one of the missing police officers, a Sergeant with the mopol squadron 29 in Awka who was kidnapped about three months ago.
Haruna, further narrated that one of the bombs which had exploded wounded about five of their men who according to him were recuperating in hospital which he failed to mention.
On what would be the action of the combined team if the miscreants failed to adhere to the order given to them on the motor parks, he quickly replied.
�Where necessary, minimum force will be used to evict any person that chooses to remain where he not ought to, our mandate is very clear, we will take over these motor parks immediately, the state government ultimatum lasts till 3rd of July, 2006, that ultimatum is between them and the state government�.
�We are going to take effective control of motor parks with immediate effect and the exercise is on going, I want to assure you that it will be completed before the week runs out�, he declared.
�We are going to continue this operation especially in the face of unwarranted abductions and attacks on policemen and innocent people in the state which we must put a stop to in this state�, Haruna said.
IT was also confirmed yesterday that the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), have taken over the park belonging to the Transport Corporation of Anambra State (TRACAS) and Aguata mass transit company at Ekwulobia respectively.
The managing director of (TRACAS) Mr. Tony Ileka confirmed that his members were robbed of their handsets including money when the group stormed the place over the weekend.
According to him �We are now leaving in fears, my members did not only lose their GSM sets but also a reasonable amount of money was equally lost�, Ileka lamented.
It would be recalled that Anambra state Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, had given NARTO, NURTW, Bakassi otherwise known as (AVS) and MASSOB up to 3rd July, 2006 to vacate the state owned parks, otherwise heaven would be let loose.
And since then, NARTO members have vowed to retaliate if any action is taken by the state government to that order with the combined team of the police and Army, insisting that motor parks belonged to them. |
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