A tear-gas canister allegedly fired by police personnel attached to the Operation Puff Adder in the direction of drug peddlers and hoodlums has allegedly set a thatched house ablaze in Calabar, Cross River State.
The house, located on No. 6 Murray Street, off Target Road, caught fire after the police team allegedly fired gunshots and tear-gas canisters while pursuing suspected drug peddlers and one of the canisters fell on the roof of the thatched house.
The owner of the house, Prince Francis Ephraim, said the incident had left him and his family of seven without a roof over their heads.
“That early morning I wanted to go out but decided to prepare something to eat and when the food was ready, I took it to the parlour and suddenly there was a lot of firing by the police and I heard a sound on the roof of my house. And I came out and saw smoke coming out from the place the sound came from,” he narrated.
He said when he went inside to get some water to pour on the roof, he heard neighbours shouting “fire” and he rushed out to try to extinguish the fire, but the flames were increasing in intensity.