A police inspector attached to the 29 Police Mobile Force (PMF), Awka, has been shot dead in a suspected case of mistaken identity involving operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Anambra State.
The incident occurred around 5:50 p.m. on June 24 along the Onitsha/Owerri Expressway near Danaks Filling Station in Uli, Ihiala Local Government Area.
According to reports, a team of mobile police officers on highway patrol had intercepted an unmarked Toyota Sienna driving against traffic from a nearby track road. The suspicious vehicle was flagged down for a routine stop-and-search.
Eyewitnesses said the occupants of the vehicle, dressed in black and armed with assault rifles, refused to stop. A confrontation reportedly ensued, during which the armed men opened fire on the police team, fatally wounding Inspector Bello Abdulahi in the lower abdomen.
The injured officer was first taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala, and later referred to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi, where he was confirmed dead. His remains have been deposited in the hospital morgue.
It was later discovered that the attackers were DSS operatives attached to the Ihiala Local Government Secretariat. They fled the scene immediately after the shooting.
The DSS headquarters in Awka has been notified, and an investigation is currently underway to ascertain the full details of the incident.
The killing has triggered renewed calls for better inter-agency communication and coordination to avoid tragic incidents of this nature.
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