GUNMEN ATTACKED CORRECTIONAL FACILITY & POLICE HEADQUARTERS IN OWERRI, FREED INMATES

Reporter : CHINAZO ILECHUKWU

Gunmen on Monday attacked the facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service and Police headquarters in Owerri.

The attackers were said to have gone on rampage around two o’clock in the morning shooting sporadically at the correctional service located on Okigwe Road near Government House, Owerri.

Many inmates were freed while vehicles and some office buildings at the correctional facility were set ablaze by the hoodlums.

A lifeless body of a man carrying a luggage was seen lying in front of the entrance gate to the correctional service.

The Public Relations Officer of the Service in the State, Mr. James Madugba, has confirmed the incident and said the service would brief journalists in due course.

Similarly, detainees at the police headquarters, Owerri were released by the gunmen while more than twenty vehicles parked at the headquarters were either burnt or destroyed.

The first entrance gate to the Government House Owerri was riddled with bullets while window glasses of a security house close to the gate were shattered.

The Public Relations Officer Imo State Police Command (PPRO), Mr. Orlando Ikeokwu, has also confirmed the attacks and said he would brief journalists on the incident later.

Meanwhile, there is an atmosphere of fear in the state following the incident as many are calling on security agents to rise to the emerging security challenges in the area.