Chuks Eke, Awka
The Joint Task Force (JTF) set up by the Anambra State Government to wage war against criminals in the state has set ablaze two suspected criminals hideouts in Okpoko, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, in what looked like a mop-up exercise.
The JTF operatives comprising the Army, Police, Nigerian Security Civil and Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), vigilance operatives, NDLEA and the Department of State Services (DSS), stormed the hideouts in a convoy of about 20 vehicles and a caterpillar to arrest the occupants but when they could not find any, they resorted to setting them ablaze.
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It was gathered that after setting the hideouts ablaze, they the JTF also brought out all properties from a suspected criminal room in a nearby house and set them ablaze, before removing a Biafran flag hoisted by members of Chief Ralph Uwazuruike-led Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) at their Okpoko office.
Reacting to the removal of the flag, the BIM Regional Administrator for Ogbaru, Chief Amadi Ifeanyi, expressed surprise over the action of the JTF and demanded for the return of the flag, adding that they are non violent organisation fighting for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (BIAFRA) and not criminals, as they are being portrayed.
The BIM members, therefore, gave the JTF a seven-day ultimatum within which to return the flags and give them chance to continue with their struggle for the actualisation of Biafra as an Independent Republic.