One killed, Inspector hacked as hoodlums attack Mokola Police station

Crisis was averted by the swift intervention of men of Operation Burst and resolve of youths and residents of Mokola area on Sunday as hoodlums attacked the Mokola Police station.

The hoodlums under the pretence of activism, despite pleas and persuasions made frantic efforts to set the Police station ablaze and attack the officers attached to the station.

Although, some parts of the station were torched, the main building remains intact as at the time of filing this report.

Also, a police Inspector attached to the station was hacked while a boy was discovered dead after the crisis had died down.

Home and office appliances at the station were also carted away.

The hoodlums known as ‘Interior Boys’ carried out a coordinated attack on the Mokola community and its environs and made attempt to burgle shops on Mokola streets.

But the resistance poised by the youths of the community and the presence of security operatives including mobile police crashed the plans.

A fracas that lasted for about six hours, however, broke out between the resisting youths and the hoodlums.

Sources informed the hoodlums had stormed the Mokola police division at midnight and threatened to set it ablaze, alleging officers of the Mokola police division have killed one of them.

The source, who witnessed the imbroglio, also confirmed the death of the teenager who was hit by a stray bullet while the crisis was ongoing.

But, no one could confirm who fired the gunshot that killed the boy either the police or the hoodlums.

It was  learnt that the corpse of the boy was only brought to Mokola Police Station by the hoodlums, alleging the police must have fired the shot that killed the yet to be identified teenager.

While the pandemonium lasted, some of the hoodlums attempted to burgle shops on Mokola streets, a development that angered youths of the area who later mobilised in their hundreds to repel the hoodlums from setting the Mokola police station ablaze and looting the shops in the vicinity.

As at the time of filing this report, men of the State Joint Security outfit codenamed Operation Burst, Mobile policemen and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) have heavy presence in the vicinity.

Unconfirmed sources claimed some of the hoodlums have been apprehended.

The source also pointed accusing fingers at some scrap dealers in the area to be behind the foiled attack.