The police warned members of the public to resist any attempt to associate with the proscribed IPOB.
There was confusion in Bayelsa State on Wednesday following reports that 10 suspected members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra were arrested while holding a secret meeting.
This came after the Commissioner of Police, Mike Okoli, asked members of the group to stay away from the state.
Okoli also warned members of the public to resist any attempt to associate with the proscribed IPOB.
He said available intelligence to the command revealed plans by some members of IPOB to open cells in the state but assured that police operatives in the state were on their trail and monitoring their activities.
According to the PUNCH, a team of police detectives swooped on the IPOB members during their meeting in a private school located in the Okutukutu area of the state capital, Yenagoa, following a tip-off.
They were said to be working on a plan to attack public property in some parts of the state and that a book titled, ‘The Chain of One Nigeria Broken (The story of our journey to freedom),’ was recovered from the IPOB suspects.
A resident of the community, one Clifford, reportedly said all the suspects were nabbed by men of the Operation Puff Adder.
He said, “We noticed some strange movements of policemen in plainclothes and uniformed ones in the area.
“They proceeded to the school and we were shocked when they brought out people in handcuffs. We thought the school was empty.”
The police spokesman, Asinim Butswat, however, denied the reports when contacted saying, “No such arrest has taken place.”