Follow Us on Google
From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
The police anti kidnapping unit operating in Aba, Abia State, has successfully dismantled two trans-border kidnapping syndicates, killing four of their members and rescuing two female victims kept away in one of their hideouts in Obigbo, Rivers State, while expecting ransom from their relations.
The team, led by Superintendent of Police, Oracle Emeka, also arrested another set of notorious armed robbers, one of who, on interrogation, confessed being a member of another gang of kidnappers, with some of it’s members already in police net.
Daily Sun gathered that the demobilised four kidnappers with their hideout in Osisioma Council Area of the state, near Aba, had on noticing the police team within their camp, began shooting and had engaged the law enforcers, who had gone to the area after receiving an intelligence report, in a gun battle, but we’re overpowered, resulting to their deaths, while no policeman was hurt.
A very reliable police source, told Daily Sun that the team leader, SP Emeka, and his members, were spurred into upping their jobs, by the new state Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Mohammed Bala, who had not hidden his resolve to see Abia and its environs, in a peaceful and serene atmosphere during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The source who refused to be named, said the team had moved into an identified kidnappers’ den in Obigbo, Rivers State, after necessary clearance and authorisation, where they overpowered a gang of hoodlums, to rescue two female kidnap victims, kept in solitary confinement to await payment of agreed ransom by their relations.
“At the police arrival into the kidnappers’ hideout, they (kidnappers) were holding AK 47 and Pump Action rifles and immediately opened fire, but we’re overpowered. Two kidnapped female victims were rescued unhurt. As a result of the exchange of gunfire, the kidnappers could not stand the superior power of the police.”
He said the dead bodies of the four bandits had been brought into Aba and deposited in the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), mortuary, while further trailing of those who may have been associated with the gang was ongoing.
It was further gathered that the team also nabbed three notorious armed robbers, one of who, on being interrogated, confessed being a member of another kidnapping gang, some of whose members were already in police custody, awaiting prosecution. Items recovered from the hoodlums, the source revealed, included some AK 47 and Pump Action rifles, two vehicles and various unfixed vehicle plate numbers, among others.
In commending the anti kidnapping unit of the police, residents of Osisioma Council Area, expressed gratitude for the good job and the resilience of the members, noting that the season will be better and peaceful without the dreaded bandits in their neighbourhood.
(Continued on www.sunnewsonline.com)
The Abia Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Geoffrey Ogbonna, could not be reached to confirm the story, as his phone was switched off when contacted at the time of filing this report.
