Cross River police raid criminal hideout following attack on personnel

• Seize 5 homemade guns, expended cartridges

• Suspects at large

From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar

The Cross River State Police Command has busted a criminal hideout in Iso-Bendeghe community, Boki Local Government Area of the state.

In a statement by its Public Relations Officer, SP Irene Ugbo, the police said the raid led to the recovery of five locally made guns, expended cartridges, and other items.

Ugbo said the operation followed “an attack on the 75 PMF Patrol Team at Iso-Bendeghe at about 11:45pm on August 5, 2025, where the operational vehicle was damaged, with no personnel hurt.”

She disclosed that, following the attack, the Commissioner of Police, CP Rashid Bello Afegbua, ordered an immediate raid in the forest where hoodlum youths suspected of being responsible for the violence in the village were camped.

“A combined team of 75 PMF personnel with soldiers from 245 Battalion, Ikom, led by the DPO Boki Division, executed the CP’s directive as they stormed an abandoned hospital in the village, currently in the bush, where the hoodlums were camped.

“Upon sensing the presence of the police, the suspects scampered into the bush, abandoning five locally made guns, expended cartridges, machetes, clubs, motorcycles, cooking utensils, other dangerous charms, and more,” she said.

The state police command warned that it will not tolerate any form of attack on security personnel and assured residents to go about their normal businesses, as security is well emplaced.

Iso-Bendeghe has recently been embroiled in a renewed communal dispute with its Boje neighbours, which claimed lives and properties.