The Ebonyi State Police Command said it has recovered several arms including some Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) following a raid at what it described as the biggest bomb factory in the South-East belonging to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
SP Chris Anyanwu, police spokesperson in Ebonyi, said on Thursday while briefing journalists at the command headquarters in Abakiliki that the camp located at Obegu, a boundary area between the Onicha-Isu and Ishielu Local Government Areas of the state. was uncovered following intelligence report from locals.
“The invasion of the criminals’ den was necessitated by an earlier encounter between operatives of the Command’s Tactical Teams sequel to credible information gathered that the hoodlums were operating/wreaking havoc in the state with a Toyota Sienna space bus which they robbed at gunpoint from the owner within Ishielu axis,” the statement reads.
“A quick trail and joint effort with a team of detectives attached to Ohaukwu Division led to the arrest of Sunday Ubah a.k.a Bongo, the state commander of the IPOB/ESN in Ebonyi state.
He said, “What we have here today is a complete bomb factory, the biggest so far recovered in the whole of the South-East. In fact, these IEDs are capable of destroying a very large building and doing a whole lot of massive killing of any living thing around the area.
“You can see the whole component ranging from gelatin (very large quantity), there are safety fuses, they collate all these and fabricate it themselves.
“From our EOD expert in Ebonyi State, one of these hand grenades they manufactured is capable of wiping out the whole of this premises and killing everybody here, even though they don’t have sharp nails.
“The gelatin is so powerful that the pressure and the shock can kill everybody within the perimeter where it is thrown. You can also see the uniforms of some of our colleagues that these miscreants killed during several attacks at police stations.”
He said some police operatives sustained minor bullet injuries as the hoodlums engaged the police in a gun fight. However, two of the hoodlums were neutralized, as others escaped with various degrees of bullet injuries, according to Anyanwu.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
