More than 20 people have been reportedly arrested by the Rapid Intervention Battalion of the Cameroon army, popularly known by the French acronym BIR, during a mass arrest in Atabong East, Idabato subdivision of Bakassi Peninsula.
The Cameroonian forces were said to have accused locals of aiding the controversial pro-Biafra militant group, the Black Marine.
TOP MEDIA also gathered that the BIR are preventing travellers from leaving Atabong, banning commercial boats from loading passengers.
Eyewitnesses said troops that serve as a gendarmerie (policing force) were flogging those at the borders within the areas Nigeria controls. A source disclosed that they question civilians, “are you Biafra?”, and then they allegedly whip them.
“Those arrested are neither Black Marine nor Dragon Fighter Marine members” – BnL leader
Speaking on the development, the leader of the Biafra Nations League (BnL), Princewill Richards, through his assistant, Christian Effiong, said that over 22 people were seized by the Cameroonian forces. However, Richards insisted that the arrested persons are not members of BnL and do not belong to the Black Marine and Dragon Fighter Marine.
Speaking on Sunday on a local radio in Efik dialect, Effiong warned that the actions of the Cameroonian security operatives may be met with a counter-offensive.
He stated that his boss had directed the BnL operational coordinator, Henry Edet, to summon an emergency meeting.
