Police gun down kidnapper, free four captives in Rivers
The Rivers State Police Command said its men gunned down two notorious kidnappers, including a gang leader nicknamed ‘Occasion’ during a shootout in a forest in Emuoha Local Government of Rivers State.
The command also said four persons blindfolded and found in the kidnappers’ den were rescued after spending two days in captivity.
Spokesperson for the command, Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed this in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
Iringe-Koko said the kidnap victims were rescued after operatives subdued the hoodlums during an exchange of gunfire.
Meanwhile, one of the victims, a commercial driver, who spoke with newsmen in Port Harcourt on the condition of anonymity, said he was on a routine trip back to Port Harcourt when he noticed an obstruction on the road caused by a huge tree trunk blocking the road.
He said while driving a Sienna, an Audi car was in front of him, saying that as he was contemplating reversing, some men came out from the bush and fired bullets at the tyres of his vehicle and those of the Audi.
He stated, “The men, numbering six, asked us to lie on the ground and later grabbed us and took us through strange bush paths as they noticed a police van approaching. The police officers shot several times, but we were taken too deep into the forest.”
He said the kidnappers tortured them and extracted funds from them via their Automated Teller Machine cards and from their families.
The driver said, “They removed the sum of N800, 000 from one of the victims’ accounts and N1.9 million from another. Throughout our stay, the kidnappers only gave us tiny pieces of bread and sachet water.”
He further said the kidnappers blindfolded him and the three others all through their stay in captivity.
The police statement reads, “In the early hours of Wednesday, December 14, 2023, gunshots rang out as four blindfolded men scrambled in confusion.
“When the gunshots ceased, the four men were eased off their blindfolds and realised that they had been rescued by the police from an ordeal in which they had lost hope after spending 48 hours in the den of a notorious kidnap kingpin.
“The policemen while searching for the victims, discovered the camp of the kidnappers on the third day.
“They proceeded to conduct a prompt but thorough surveillance to eliminate the incidence of collateral damage before engaging the criminals.
“In the confrontation that ensued, two of the kidnappers were killed, including the leader of the gang, Sunday Amadi, aka ‘Occasion’, who had had a N2m bounty on him by the Chairman of Emohua LGA.”
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, commended the men of the command for their professionalism and persistence in fighting crime and criminality.
CP Olatunji said the state police command under his watch would stop at nothing to rid the state of criminal elements.