A suspected member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been killed in a gun duel with policemen in Delta State.
The suspect was gunned down today Monday, August 1, 2022, at Ogbada quarters along Illah–Akwukwu-Igbo road in Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.
The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Ari Mohammed Ali while briefing journalists at the Command’s headquarters in Asaba, said the deceased and two other armed men suspected to be members of IPOB attacked a police patrol team “attached to Illah Division while on stop and search duty at Ogbada quarters along Illah–Akwukwu-Igbo road,” and the team in response, “engaged them in a fierce gun duel during which one of the hoodlums was neutralized while the other members of the gang escaped with gunshot injuries.
“One AK47 rifle with breech no 2534896 and six rounds of 7.62MM ammunition were recovered. Manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang is ongoing.”
CP Ali identified the recovered AK47 rifle as among the two rifles that were carted away by the armed men who in the early hours of Sunday, July 24, 2022, ambushed and killed three police officers attached to the Okpanam Division also in Oshimili North Local Government Area.
The three slain officers were responding to a distress call from members of the Okpanam community vigilante that put a distress call to the station to alert them of an attack on them by gunmen when they were killed a few metres from the station.
The Delta Police boss said since the killing of the policemen the Command had intensified efforts to ensure that the perpetrators were apprehended and made to face justice.
“The Command has not been resting in its quest to ensure that those who committed that atrocity are brought to book.
“Consequently, our men have been out two four seven conducting stop and search, raiding various black spots, combing the hideouts including the enclaves of suspected members of IPOB,” said CP Ali.
