Thousands of inmates have been reportedly freed at the headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCS, Owerri the Imo State capital by a yet to be identified gunmen in the wee hours of Monday.
The assailants also stormed the nearby office of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the state police command, releasing suspects there as well.
Reports say the gunmen set razed all the cars parked at the command headquarters and freed all the suspects in almost all the cells at the SCID.
According to SaharaReporters, the gunmen operated in over 10 vehicles, and also attacked soldiers stationed at Umuorji along Owerri–Onitsha Expressway.
The operation lasted for about two hours and said to have started between 1 am and 2 am on Monday. Residents were stunned as explosions were heard around the state police command headquarters and the NCC facility in Owerri.
A source who spoke to SaharaReporters said, “There was a jailbreak at the Owerri Correctional Centre around 4 am after the gunmen struck. Soldiers have been called in to secure the facility but several inmates have fled.”
“It was so loud hearing the sound from two miles away from prison but I thought it could be a burial wake keeping but to my greatest surprise, my phone rang and it was my boss calling to know if I was at the headquarters which was negative because I was already at home.
“Gunmen suspected to be members of Eastern Security Network were the ones who attacked the Imo State prison and set prisoners free before extending their onslaught to the police headquarters, Owerri and setting some sections ablaze. It happened around 1:40 am and lasted for one or two hours at the heart of town,” another security official said.
A video clip that trended on the Internet showed the police station on fire as gunshots were still being fired.
A source said, “This is the aftermath of the destructive force of the gunmen suspected to be ESN on the Nigeria police headquarters in Imo State when gunmen attacked the police headquarters, they also went to the Nigeria correctional centre and freed prisoners; all these happened last night.”
The attack marks the fifth on police headquarters across the state.