In well-coordinated commando-like operations on Monday morning, gunmen invaded Imo State Correctional Facility near the State Government House in Owerri and set free over 2,000 inmates.
They also attacked the Imo State Police Command Headquarters and set free about 600 suspects being held in custody.
Not done yet, the attackers set the Police headquarters ablaze, burning down several operational vehicles of the Police parked at the command headquarters.
The attack started around 1.30 am and lasted till about 3.30 am without any resistance any of the security agencies.
The attackers were said to have converged in front of the Imo State Government House, as they warmed up with chants and solidarity songs for about half an hour before they launched the attack on the Police headquarters.
They shot sporadically as they neared the Command headquarters and launched their first attack on the State Criminal Investigative Department (CID).
They were said to have overrun the CID facility, setting free all suspects in being detained in the facility.
The only unit the hoodlums did not attack, The Nation gathered, is the anti-kidnapping unit located some meters away inside the police barracks at Shell Camp.
Nigeria is currently witnessing its worst peace-time security crisis, with various armed groups operating across the country. Cases of banditry, kidnapping, murders, and other violent crimes have risen to all-time highs.
Imo State has also witnessed confrontations between the Nigerian Army and members of the Eastern Security Network, being sponsored by exiled Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
IPOB, as the group is known, is fighting for the independence of the territory that covers mainly the Southeastern states.
