Nearly 800 Arrested in Security Operation in Ethiopia

Police said it has sized over 202 law enforcement uniforms that were intended to be used for criminal purposes in Addis Ababa

Borkena

November 23, 2020

Addis Ababa police said on Monday that it has arrested about 796 suspects who it said were on a mission to attack targets in the capital Addis Ababa.

The suspects were deployed by what it called TPLF junta – Tigray People’s Liberation Front leaders who are responsible for the attack and massacre of hundreds of members of the northern command of the Ethiopian Defense Force.

Commander Girma Tesema who is the director of a unit within the Criminal Investigation Department said police have been monitoring suspects before they were arrested.

Furthermore, police said that it has seized an unspecified number of firearms and other materials that were meant to be used in the attack. They were seized in residential home searches for which court order was obtained, according to Commander Girma Tessema. Furthermore, police said that it has captured 202 uniforms of law enforcement units that were intended to be used for carrying out the attack. 

Police also claimed that it has captured evidence that confirms TPLF is behind the violence in different parts of the country, and that there were plans to instigate ethnic and religious-based violence in Ethiopia.

Regarding the planned attack in Addis Ababa, it is unclear as to which part of the capital was the intended target. 

It has been three weeks since the Federal government of Ethiopia and TPLF entered into an open and devastating war after the latter massacred members of the defense forces, as many of them were sleeping, on the night of November 4.

Currently, the Ethiopian Defense Force has controlled much of Tigray except Mekelle City which is under siege, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has given 72 hours of ultimatum for the TPLF forces to lay arms down and surrender themselves to the defense force. TPLF leaders are also given the ultimatum – which should be expiring sometime tomorrow.