Police, JTF Dislodge Criminal Camp After 6-hour Gun Battle

Police in Anambra State and the Joint Security Task Force (JTF) have dislodged a criminal camp at Ogbunka in Orumba South local government area of the state.

The command’s spokesman, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed this in a statement yesterday in Onitsha.

Ikenga said the police-led joint security team comprising the Army, Navy, Department of State Services and Anambra State Vigilante conducted the sting operation on Thursday.

“The security operatives were acting on information received over time and dislodged a criminal camp at Ogbunka. The JTF were in a six hours gun battle with the armed criminals, but due to its superior firepower, diffused some explosives used as shields on the camp by the hoodlums,” he said.

Ikenga explained that the team also recovered items including pots, foodstuff and parts of dismembered vehicles, suspected to be stolen.

The command’s spokesman said that some of the criminals escaped with various degrees of bullet injuries inflicted on them.

He added that the JTF operatives have taken over the area to sustain security dominance and possibly arrest the fleeing suspects.

Ikenga quoted the Commissioner of Police in Anambra, CP Ikioye Orutugu, as assuring residents of the state that the security agencies will not in anyway compromise the confidence reposed in them.

Orutugu also solicited the continued support of people in the state in fighting crime by providing information to security agencies. (NAN)