The joint security personnel in Rivers State have carried out a raid in the forest bordering the IPO-Etche communities, retrieving firearms and ammunition, and confirming that there are no criminal camps within the area.
The raid was carried out on Tuesday by a joint team comprising officers from the Police, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, and the local vigilante force called OSPAC, says the Revelation Agent report.
The raid took place in a forest between the IPO community in the Ikwerre Local Government Area and the Abara community in the Etche Local Government Area.
According to the State Commissioner of Police, CP Olugbenga Adepoju, the joint task force raided the forest based on the allegations of criminal activities and the establishment of a heavily fortified camp by armed herdsmen within the forest.
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Adepoju stated that previous raids had taken place in the same forest area following an encounter involving the OSPAC vigilante group, resulting in the kidnapping of one of its leaders.
He added that previous raids resulted in the retrieval of an AK-47 rifle, 274 rounds of ammunition, and a pump-action gun suspected to be the property of the kidnapped vigilante leader.
In his statement, he noted that despite several weeks of combing through the forest, there was no proof of any organized criminal camp, noting that the people who were seen earlier in the forest were mainly cultivators.
He added that there was misinformation circulating online concerning the takeover of the forest by armed bandits with solar-powered installations and water wells, adding that the forest was continuously monitored and did not have any criminals.
The Commissioner took the time to advise the vigilante groups in the locality to stop making arrests without the involvement of the police, noting that such practices left them open to danger.
“I want to use this medium to tell all local vigilantes to work in synergy with the police. If they have any information or there are people whom they suspect in their locality, they should inform the police before they move in,” he said.
Speaking further, the community chairman, Mr. Samuel Ogbone, representing Omagwa in the Ikwerre legislative assembly, highlighted the security measures put in place in addressing insecurity issues in the area, stating that there have been continuous efforts to apprehend the kidnappers since the occurrence.
Mr. Ogbone described the claims that IPO has become a hideout for kidnappers as false, but rather the area in question is actually an abandoned rubber estate along the Ikwerre-Etche LGA boundary.
Furthermore, Mr. Chinedu Ohahurun, elder brother to the kidnapped OSPAC chief, Collins Ohahurun, urged the security to scale up measures to secure his brother’s release while explaining the trauma undergone by his family despite being optimistic about his freedom.
While recalling the search operation as the fifth that has been carried out in the forest to secure his brother’s freedom, Mr. Ohahurun hailed the efforts of the joint security force.
Meanwhile, the security agencies ensure that they will keep monitoring the area while efforts to rescue the kidnapped OSPAC member continue.
