There was pandemonium and suspense at Awka, Anambra State, in the vicinity of the police Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) of the state police command, when operatives of the dreaded squad reportedly opened fire on 11 suspects.
Scudnews learnt that the suspects, whose identities could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report, had been held in the SARS detention facility on suspicion of involvement in various offences.
Reliable sources hinted our correspondent that in the wee hours of Sunday, July 5, Uweh Etim, an Inspector of police attached to SARS allegedly raised the alarm that 11 male suspects in custody had broken the cell and escaped.
Witnesses said the alarm triggered staccato bursts of gunfire by the SARS operatives on guard, leading to fatalities. Corpses of the deceased were said to have been deposited in an unspecified hospital.
However, the police command in Anambra said some of the fleeing suspects who were shot, had injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment where they were confirmed dead. But the police were silent on the number of persons shot dead among the 11 suspects who allegedly broke out of the cell.
Expectedly, the incident has raised dust in Awka, the state capital, just as uneasy calm pervades at the command headquarters. John Abang, the Commissioner of Police, has reportedly constituted a special investigation panel on the incident headed by Maiyaki Baba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).
A top security source said the investigation will ascertain the circumstances surrounding the shooting and if there were survivors among the 11 alleged escapee suspects.
Efforts made at reaching the state commissioner of police were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report, as repeated calls to his mobile phone did not connect.
However, when contacted on his mobile phone for comments on the number of alleged fleeing suspects who died in the shooting, Haruna Mohammed, a Superintendent of Police and spokesperson for the Anambra State police command promised to revert after consulting the officer commanding SARS. He did not get back to Scudnews at the time of filing this report.
“I will find out from the OC; I am in a meeting now, when I finish, I will find out from the OC”, Mohammed said in a telephone chat on Monday.
