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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The Enugu State Police Command has rescued four kidnap victims in two separate intelligence-led operations conducted within Enugu State and across the Benue State border, recovering live ammunition, suspected hard drugs and other incriminating exhibits from the kidnappers’ hideouts.
The operations, however, ended on a tragic note with the recovery of the decomposing body of a male victim who was allegedly shot by the abductors while in captivity.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, saying the operations were carried out by police tactical teams in collaboration with the military, local security outfits and vigilante groups.
According to him, the first operation involved operatives of the Udenu Police Division, the Anti-Kidnapping Section of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) and the Distress Response Squad (DRS), working alongside personnel of the Orukam Police Division in Benue State, the Nigerian Army, Benue State Civil Protection Guards, Enugu State Forest Guards, Neighbourhood Watch members and the Ezimo Vigilante Group.
Ndukwe said the operation, which also leveraged the Inspector-General of Police’s Handshake Patrol initiative, led to the rescue of two brothers abducted on August 3, 2026, at Ezimo-Ulo in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The victims were rescued unhurt at about 1:40 p.m. on August 4 at Ikele in Owukpa Community, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, after security operatives engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle.
“The kidnappers fled with varying degrees of gunshot injuries,” the statement said.
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Security operatives recovered 15 rounds of live ammunition, the victims’ Android phones and car keys, other mobile phones and accessories, a bottle containing suspected hard drugs and drug paraphernalia, clothing items, as well as ₦11,800 in cash from the kidnappers’ hideout.
The rescued brothers were subsequently debriefed and reunited with their family.
In a separate operation, operatives of the Umabor Police Division, the Anti-Kidnapping Section of the VCRU, Enugu State Forest Guards and members of the Neighbourhood Watch rescued two victims abducted on July 31, 2026, at Amukpa Village in Ogbozara Community, Nsukka Local Government Area.
The command, however, disclosed that another victim held by the same gang died after sustaining gunshot wounds inflicted by the kidnappers while in captivity. His decomposing body was later recovered from the forest.
The two rescued victims were also debriefed before being reunited with their families.
Commending the operatives and other security agencies involved in the successful operations, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, CP Mamman Bitrus Giwa, directed them to intensify the ongoing manhunt for the fleeing suspects.
He reaffirmed the command’s commitment to tackling kidnapping and other violent crimes across the state and urged residents to remain vigilant by providing timely, credible and actionable intelligence to security agencies to support ongoing efforts to rid the state of criminal elements.
