Following a massive bush-combing operation in Ekeke Erah Forest, Owan East Local Government Area, Edo State Special Security Squad, codenamed “Operation Flush Out Cultists and Kidnappers,” has taken down five suspected kidnapper camps in Edo North Senatorial District.
The Nigerian Army, local vigilante organizations, and other sister security organizations were involved in the operation, which was coordinated by the Principal Security Officer (PSO) to Governor Monday Okpebholo.
Security operatives traveled nearly five kilometers deep into the forest between Afuze and Ora, where the camps were discovered and later destroyed, according to a statement from the governor’s press secretary, Fred Itua, on Saturday.
After the six-hour exercise, Squad member Eribo Ewanta reported that signs of recent activity indicated that the camps were still in use.
We found five camps, all of which had clearly indicated that the people who had just fled. A pot of food was left on the fire and the fire was still burning. He said that this confirms the presence of alleged kidnappers in this region.
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The team claimed that as suspected kidnappers allegedly received an alert to the security incursion, they tried to avoid being captured by an exchange of gunfire at a riverbank. The forest’s evidence of cattle grazing further skewed the possibility that the hideouts had a connection to armed herdsmen.
The suspects were involved in a violent gunfight, but they escaped deeper into the woods. We are still on their side, though. Their concentration camps have been razed and destroyed. Ewanta stated that Edo State will no longer be a haven for criminals.
He assured Edo residents that the operation was just the start of long-term efforts to remove kidnappers and other violent organizations from the state.
“We’re prepared for battle.” The Governor’s directive is clear: Edo must be free of all forms of crime. We’ll keep trying until we catch them.
Source: Channels TV
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