Abia State Police Command has narrated how it rescued police personnel who came under mob attack around Azikiwe road by Ama Ogbonna area of Aba.
Speaking on ABN TV on Thursday, the Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, said a policeman who was commuting anonymously in a tricycle came under vicious attack when he was identified as a policeman.
According to SP Ogbonna, the police officer was in a Keke NAPEP along with other passengers when the Keke driver hit a Toyota Sienna vehicle.
An altercation was said to have followed as the owner of the car insisted the tricycle rider should repair the scratched car.
The policeman who was in mufti was said to have intervened by appealing to the owner of the Toyota Sienna temper justice with mercy, considering that the car was not seriously damaged.
According to her, matters were reportedly going towards a peaceful resolution when a passerby who knew the policeman recognised him and announced loudly to the mob that he was a policeman.
The police spokesperson said the mob there and then descended on the policeman and were about to kill him when he managed to alert his colleagues.
Upon arrival, the team of policemen, according to SP Ogbonna, shot into the air to disperse the mob and rescue their colleague from danger.
The shootings apparently caused panic as residents scampered for safety. Soldiers positioned at Bata junction were said to have immediately blocked the road on hearing the gunshots, probably to protect themselves.
Some of the fleeing motorists already in panic mode who found that the road had been blocked were said to have reversed widely and hit each other, compounding the commotion.
Ogbonna however said there was no casuality. He said the attacked policeman had been hospitalised.
Several vehicles were damaged in the incident, but the police spokesperson said the damage was not done by the police but the rampaging mob.
