Some angry traders at the popular Umuahia Timber Market, Abia State, yesterday set ablaze the office of the state Vigilante Service (AVGS) aka “Bakassi Boys” situated within the market.
Our correspondent gathered that the traders burnt down the AVGS office after the Bakassi boys killed a trader early yesterday.
The incident happened as the traders squabbled with the state Board of Internal Revenue Service (ABIRS) which sealed shops over nonpayment of N18,000 fee.
Commandant of the AVGS, Mr. Idika denied that his men killed any trader, and bemoaned the burning of their office and an operational van of the security outfit.
“We have gone round the entire hospitals in Umuahia including Federal Medical Center (FMC), but there was no case of gunshot injury patient or body from Timber Shed in the facilities that we visited,” Idika said.
Police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna in a telephone interview confirmed that some traders were injured, but no death.