The Imo State Police Command has reported the apprehension of 15 individuals suspected to be affiliated with the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed faction associated with the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
In a statement released on Friday by the command’s spokesperson, ASP Henry Okoye, it was revealed that the arrest followed revelations made by certain previously detained members of the group during interrogation by the command’s Anti-Kidnapping Squad.
Okoye detailed that the 15 suspects were apprehended at their hideouts located in Obiangwu and Logara Forests within the Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of the state, during a subsequent operation led by CSP Oladimeji Odeyeyiwa.
Among the items seized from the suspects were an AK-47 rifle loaded with 21 rounds of live ammunition, three additional rounds of live ammunition, illicit drugs, mystical objects, a cut-to-size double-barrel shotgun, and four locally crafted shotguns.
“One militia camouflage T-shirt, one Improvised Explosive Device, one guinea fowl with fetish items on it, one POS machine used in extorting money from their victims, and various denominations of Biafra currency were equally recovered,” he said.
Okoye further added the suspects will be arraigned in court upon completion of a comprehensive investigation.