The police in Bayelsa State on Wednesday confirmed the attack on some policemen by a gang of gunmen believed to be cultists at Kolo in the Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Mr Asinim Butswat, said the hoodlums fatally wounded one of the officers, an inspector, and carted away his rifle in the ambush on Monday night.
Butswat said the cops were attacked while conducting a stop-and-search operation around the Kolo-Ogbia Road in the Ogbia LGA.
He said, “Police officers who were conducting a stop-and-search operation along the Kolo-Ogbia Road were attacked by gunmen suspected to be cultists on October 11, 2021, at about 2245 hours.
“A police inspector was fatally wounded and his rifle was carted away. An investigation is ongoing to apprehend the gunmen and recover the stolen rifle.”
The youth president of the Kolo community, Gift Okere-Onyiagholo, expressed concern over the incident, adding that the bandits returned on Tuesday and robbed a Point of Sale machine operator of a huge sum of money and phones in broad daylight.
He said, “We need the police in our area to be strengthened. They should increase the manpower and improve their working relationship with the community. We are not safe.
“Just imagine, after they attacked the police station on Monday, they came back yesterday to rob a PoS shop in broad daylight. This happened at about 12 noon yesterday. We are afraid for our safety.”
