The Rivers State Police Command has said it raided a suspected cell operated by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) at Oyigbo in Oyigbo local government area of the state, arresting 10 suspected members.
The command also said it raided the training camp and cells of an illegal security outfit, Civilian JTF in Ahoada town in Ahoada-East local government area and Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area of the state where seven suspected members of the illegal outfit were arrested.
The commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong, who disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt, said four of those arrested during the raid on IPOB cell were identified to be the masterminds of the burning down of Oyigbo Police station during the #EndSARS protest in 2020.
“We got an intelligence that members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have started re-establishing cells in Rivers State. We had to work on that intelligence and we discovered where they stay at Oyigbo; an estate at Oyigbo.
“So, the building they stay in, the particular estate, was raided. Let us not disclose the name of the estate so that the people there will not be threatened. Ten of them were arrested and interestingly, four of the arrested persons were identified as key players in the burning down of Oyigbo Police station during the #EndSARS riot.
“One of them have been on the wanted list of Police right from February 2022. We are still working on them and we want to believe that in the next few days, wherever, because we are committed to ensuring peace, we will not like to find any situation where IPOB cells are established in the state. When we have such information, we always act on them,” Effiong said.
The Police commissioner stated that the command got intelligence report that a group of people were engaged in arms-training in the state and had already traveled to the North-East part of the country to train as Civilian JTF.
