An unidentified mobile policeman posted to an oil facility operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company is presently on the run after he shot dead a soldier in Odimodi community, in the Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
According to Punch, the incident occurred after the two security men engaged in a fierce exchange of words while on a patrol of oil facilities in the area Saturday.
A source who witnessed the incident said the policeman, after killing the victim, shot continuously into the air to scare away residents before absconding with the victim’s rifle.
Operatives of the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe, later sent some of its men to remove the corpse from the scene with residents of the community living in panic over fears of a military invasion.
“They had a misunderstanding. After a while, we heard gunshots,” a community leader said.
“When people got there, they discovered that the mobile policeman had killed the soldier. The policeman cocked his gun and fired at the soldier and thereafter shot to scare people away from the scene.
“He (policeman) took the soldier’s gun and ran away. As of now, he has not been apprehended. The JTF authorities have removed the corpse of the slain soldier. There is tension in the community as we speak. People are afraid that the military may invade the community.”
The spokesperson for Operation Delta Safe, Major Ibrahim Abdullahi, said he was not aware of the incident.
He said, “I don’t know your source and I’m not aware of anything like that.”
But an operative of the Department of State Services confirmed the incident, adding that efforts were being made to apprehend the killer cop.
– Punch
