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There is palpable apprehension in Imo State as gunmen in the early hours of Thursday attacked the Mbieri Divisional Police Headquarters situated in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of the state.
It gathered that the fleeing gunmen struck around 1am and immediately released the suspects in custody at the police facility.
The gunmen also took away the phones belonging to suspects and the police operatives at the division.
According to The Punch,the gunmen were repelled by the policemen on duty.
“We resisted them but they overpowered us. They had more sophisticated weapons. They took all the phones they saw, released the suspects when they gained access and vandalised the police building,” a police source said.
The source also said that the attackers kidnapped one police officer and injured two others.
A community leader, Nokey Ebikam, said that the police divisional headquarters was not burnt but vandalised.
Police spokesperson in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, confirmed the attack on the police station.
He also confirmed that while one police officer was missing, two others where injured owing to the resistance put up by the policemen on duty. He added that some suspects detained in the police facility were freed by the attackers.
He, however assured that the police authority in the state had commenced investigation into the attack.
Six Divisional Police Headquarters had been attacked between February and April apart from the state Police Command headquarters and Owerri Correctional Center which were attacked on Monday.
The gunmen also attacked a military base at Ukwuorji on the Owner-Onitsha Expressway, burnt a soldier in a car and razed four other operational vehicles belonging to the military.
The other Police divisions attacked in the state within two months are Obowo, Aboh Mbaise, Ihitte/ Uboma, Isiala Mbano and the Ehime Mbano Divisional Police Headquarters.