The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Odekpe, Anambra West division in Anambra State and two of his men have been allegedly abducted.
But the Commissioner of Police John Abang, while confirming the report, told The Nation they were not kidnapped but ambushed.
He also disclosed the trio had been rescued immediately.
Their alleged abduction by the warlords, was as a result age-long communal war over a piece of land between Allah/Onugwa and Odekpe communities in Anambra West .
The Nation gathered the DPO had led a team of police officers to the two warring communities to restore peace, following the renewed hostilities that claimed seven lives.
While Allah/Onugwa people said that four persons were killed on their side with 150 buildings destroyed, Odekpe claimed that three of their members were killed and three buildings touched.
A resident of Allah/Onugwa ,who pleaded anonymity, said the DPO first led his team to his community and after assessing the level of carnage in the communityh proceeded to Odekpe to carry out similar assessment.
The source further said that stakeholders from the area, including the representative of Anambra East and West in the National Assembly, Chinedu Obidigwe; the Commissioner for Lands, Bonaventure Enemali and a traditional ruler from the area, Igwe Pius Omachonu, had met and resolved that the police should embark on a fact-finding mission.
According to him: “After they deliberated on many issues yesterday, they resolved that mobile policemen should be sent to go and view the area and bring information back to them.
“Those mobile policemen that came were many. They passed through Allah/Onugwa, they saw what happened.
“They proceeded to Odekpe. Our place is not that motorable. When they got to Inoma community, they stopped.
“They parked their vehicles and picked motorcycles. They passed through our place and on getting to Odekpe; when the people sighted them, knowing that they are mobile policemen, they started shooting at them.
“The policemen had no option than to fire back. Two people fell down from Odekpe side based on the information we got.
“They captured three policemen now. The DPO representing all of us is in their custody.
“As I am talking to you now, he is unconscious. Somebody called me to tell me that the DPO may not survive it. The other two mobile policemen are still in their custody. They are dealing with them,” he narrated.
However, CP Abang told The Nation that there was no cause for alarm as everything had been put in order.
He said the command was doing everything possible to restore normalcy in the warring communities, vowing to deal with any person trying to disrupt the peace in Anambra. (The Nation)
