WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-06-11 Time: 14:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Vitalis Okafor
letter day in the annals of Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, which I have the privilege of representing in the National Assembly. It was the day the confidence of the people in the Nigeria Police Force, as the foremost fighter of violent crime in society was restored.
It was the day a fearsome gang of armed bandits, numbering between 12 and 20, successfully raided two new generation commercial banks located in the headquarters of the local government area, only to meet its waterloo in the hands of determined police officers when it attempted to invade another bank in the same vicinity.
Policemen battle ready
The robbers, after they had stolen over N6 million from Zenith Bank and Intercontinental Bank then headed for Oceanic Bank when they encountered an unexpected ferocious counter-attack from the police, assisted by soldiers and members of the Ihiala Vigilante Service.
How They Struck
The men of the underworld came in four vehicles, namely, a Mitsubuishi L300 bus, a Toyota Hilux truck, a Nissan Murano Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), and a Nissan Tirano car. They were armed with two rocket launchers, nine AK47s, two General Purpose Machine Guns and two dynamites which they used to blow up the bank. With all this arsenal and vehicles, the armed robbers must have considered themselves invincible and too intimidating for law enforcement agents to attempt to challenge them. They were fatally mistaken.
Apart from the Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC, which brought them all the way from Nnewi to the famous Nkwogbe Market where the robbers were operating, the police had no more than AK47 rifles. Still, they were able to subdue the well-armed marauders with wonderful professional precision. The police captured five robbers in action. Later in the day, they recovered the body of another hoodlum in the bush; the thief obviously died of severe gunshot wounds. The next day, two of the robbers were caught in the forest with several gunshot wounds.
Police Return Stolen N6m
All four vehicles used by the bandits were recovered. All their guns and other paraphernalia were also recovered except four AK47rifles. For three days and nights, the police stayed in the bush, in search of the fleeing marauders. A police officer from the Uli Police Division who joined the search party was shot in the abdomen, and the following day he gave up the ghost.
A most amazing feature of the policemen who took part in the operation is the honesty displayed by them. All the money recovered from the robbers, amounting to over N6m, was returned to the banks. They even tried to collect every kobo which onlookers took while the police and the robbers were engaged in the fierce battle.
Anti-Terrorist Squad To The Rescue
Another interesting feature was the exceptional performance of men of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) who arrived in the APC. As already stated, all the people who participated in the fight against the marauders did very well, but the ATS officers were exceptional. They proved the stuff of the rigorous training they received in Israel. We hope that the nation will soon provide them with modern gadgets such as telephone tracking devices to help end immediately, the menace of kidnapping for ransom which has become endemic in the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones and is fast spreading to other parts of the country.
If there were any lows at all in the operation against the gangsters, they must be the failure to arrest or even kill the leader of the gang and the fact that almost all the captured gangsters died shortly after, mostly from excessive bleeding. The gang leader, who had a few days earlier joined the police watch list for kidnapping for ransom in a different part of Anambra State, hails from Nri, the cradle of Igbo civilisation which is located in Anaocha Local Government Area. He is at large.
The good news is that at least, one robber who survived the counter- attack with a high level of consciousness has provided the police with useful information. The police now know the identities of the marauders and the fact that they lodged in the lake town of Oguta in Imo State for several days from where they conducted reconnaissances and planned their deadly operation. The security agents know that the robbers procured their arsenal from the Niger Delta.
…And local vigilante group too
To emphasise a point adumbrated above, the robbery attack in Ihiala and the counter-attack by the police who enjoyed the cooperation of the local vigilante service, have demonstrated eloquently, the need for community policing. The armed locals used their vast knowledge of the contours of the place to guide the police in the bush. They were actually the people who caught two fleeing armed robbers in the forest. They also recovered two GPMGs from the thieves. It is good that the police high command is now formulating a community policing strategy, with the assistance of international bodies such as the Department of Foreign and International Aid of Britain.
In the South-East, the Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, which has large numbers of members at the grassroots in the whole of the area, can be made to become a crime fighting outfit, like the Odua Peoples Congress, OPC in the SouthWest. MASSOB can work closely with the police and will be particularly useful in providing the police with intelligence in various local communities. This is the new challenge to, not just Ralph Uwazurike, the MASSOB leader, but also Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the umbrella Igbo socio-cultural organisation. The war against violent crime in the South-East must be won.
Kudos to a gallant officer
Finally, a word about the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Operations) in Anambra State, who directed and coordinated the Ihiala operation, John Abang. Deployed from Maiduguri, Borno State, last year by the Inspector- General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, when the violent crime rate was rising rapidly in Anambra State, the young ACP has displayed infectious professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness. The unusual gallantry demonstrated by men under his direct command on May 25 is just one example. May the Ihiala event mark the beginning of a new culture of honesty and sacrificial service in the Nigeria Police Force.
•Okafor, a lawyer, represents Ihiala Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 10 June 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006110403.html?viewall=1