There is tension in Ekwe community in Isu local government area of Imo State after masked gunmen suspected to be operatives of Ebubeagu Security Outfit invaded the community and abducted 15 male youths.
The gunmen also invaded the palace of the traditional ruler, Eze Nicholas Ibekwe and ordered everyone to lie down while they fired gunshots.
An indigene of Ekwe community, Princewill said the gunmen arrested 15 young men who were excavating sand at the Njaba River.
He said; “This morning, some masked gunmen invaded our community, Ekwe through Amucha, and arrested some young men who were escavating sand at Njaba River. Then, they went into the community shooting sporadically leading to people running helter-skelter.
Some ran into the surrounding bush to escape arrest. The gunmen were arresting only male young men. They ignored girls and women as well as elderly men.
“They also stormed the palace of our traditional ruler, Eze Nicholas Ibekwe, and commanded everyone to lie down and fired about 20 gunshots into the air. They didn’t kill anybody but some people sustained gunshot injuries”, he said.
The traditional ruler of the community, Eze Nicholas Ibekwe, confirmed the development via telephone.
According to him, one of the gunmen who spoke Hausa language alleged that the community was training criminals.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Imo Police spokesman, Michael Abattam, proved abortive as he didn’t take calls put across to him.
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