The bodies of a vigilante and police officer who chased after robbers involved in robbing at UBA in Issle-Uku have been discovered in a nearby bush.
Sunday Mordi was chairman of the Anioma Security Watch, Aniocha North local government area chapter.
The discovery of the two dead bodies brings the number of casualties to six in the bloody robbery operation last Tuesday.
The deceased chairman, who was head of the local vigilante group in the area, was said to had received a call by the Divisional Police Office (DPO) to mobilise his men against the robbers.
The DPO allegedly called Sunday from his hideouts after the robbers had reportedly stopped over at the police station to announce their arrival in the town.
Son of victim, Isaac Mordi, a student of a theological college in Owerri, Imo state told some journalists at Issele-Uku on Thursday that his father had prepared to eat and rest for the day, when the DPO’s phone call came.
“He immediately abandoned his meal and dashed out of the house to join the police van that was chasing the criminals. I saw his going but he never returned,” Isaac Mordi lamented.
He said he could no longer return to the school, maintaining that he has no other helper apart from his deceased father.
A source within the family said Sunday’s skull was ripped off by the assailant’s bullets, while the Inspector was shot in the chest, and they died on the spot.
The source said the victims had engaged the robbers in shootout inside the bush after the criminals jumped down from their operational vehicle and headed for the bush but were unlucky during the crossfire.
This came as the command in the state, through the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe, had said the police overpowered the robbers, killed one of the gang members and recovered the vehicle of the hoodlums.
