The BIAFRA Independence Movement and the Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra have confirmed the arrest of three of their male members by the police in Anambra State.

The arrested include Chief Sylvester Dinyelu, an 87-year-old Biafran civil war veteran, Chief Peter Ibeka Udemefuna, aged 66, and Mr. Amauche Ode, aged 53.

According to a statement issued by Mazi Chris Anierobi Mocha, the Senior Special Assistant to BIM-MASSOB on Media and Publicity, the arrests occurred during a police raid on the group’s regional office along the Awkuzu/Otuocha road in Ifitedunu, Dunukofia local government area of Anambra State.

Mocha described the incident, saying, “The members of BIM-MASSOB were seated in the office at Ifitedunu when the heavily armed policemen numbering over five arrived at the office in the evening and shot sporadically into the air, which led people living around the area to scamper for their safety.”

The arrested members were handcuffed and taken away in a police vehicle. The office confiscated certain items, including photographs of the late Dim Chujwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and BIM-MASDOB leader Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.

Additionally, 16 plastic chairs and a register belonging to the region were taken away and transported to the former Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) facility in Awkuzu, Anambra State.

Mocha emphasized their group’s non-violent nature and demanded their members’ immediate release from the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department Annex in Awkuzu.

He stated, “The arrested men are very peaceful people, belonging to Chief Ralph Uwazuruike’s BIM-MASSOB, that have not constituted a security risk to the State and South East in general and therefore, should be freed without further delay.”