Police say killers of 5 officers, couple in Imo will be found, arrested

The Imo State Police Command has said the killers of five police officers and a couple on Friday morning would be found and arrested.

The incident occured at the Okpala community in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of the state.

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Henry Okoye said Tactical and Operational Teams have been deployed to the area.

Okoye assured that operatives were on the trail of the suspects, while security has been beefed up around the scene.

“The command has deployed teams for constant patrol and in search of those behind this dastardly act. We are closing in on them,” he said.

The corpses of the late officers, killed at a local restaurant, have been evacuated and deposited in a morgue.

The attackers took their rifles and damaged a white Hilux patrol van. A couple, Mr and Mrs Chinaka Nwagu, who owned a shop nearby, were also murdered.

“Three of the policemen were killed inside the restaurant. Two others ran to a nearby shop but the gunmen ran after them to the shop, killing them and the couple,” a source told NAN.

Gunmen, on Friday morning, ambushed and killed policemen at Okpala junction in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State.

A source said a couple, Mr and Mrs Chinaka Nwagu, who were from the Amankwo Okpala community, were also killed.

The source said due to the tragedy, business activities in the entire neighbourhood had come to an end.

He said, “The dead officers traveled from the nearby Abo Mbaise police division to eat at the junction.”

He claimed that some gunmen arrived on the spot and started shooting at the policeman while they were eating.

He claimed that while three police officers were slain at the spot, two others who fled were killed alongside a couple at a shop where they ran for cover.

“The shop belonged to the couple.

“The attackers took away five riffles after killing the police officers.

“This is very regrettable. Our neighborhood is in pain. Everyone is perplexed. About a year ago, the couple moved from Lagos. The market has closed. Out of shock and panic, people have fled. I can’t believe this,” he lamented.

A community source, Emeka Ndukwu, who claimed to have driven via the Owerri-Aba Road, said he saw the dead bodies of the police officers.

Ndukwu remarked, “This is awful. As we passed by, the five policemen’s bodies were on the road. At the crossroads, their Hilux was also parked. It was an awful scene. This is awful. God be merciful.”

When reached, Henry Okoye, spokesman of the State Police Command stated that he had not yet received a briefing on the murder, promising to inform our correspondent once briefed.

On March 27, gunmen also killed five personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the same Okpala.