Police operatives serving in Igbo-Eze North Division of Enugu State Command with assistance from Forest Guard and Neighbourhood Watch Group, on Sunday, rescued four kidnapped victims after an intense gun fight with the kidnappers in a forest at Aishi-Ette in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area.
Police public relations officer of the Command,DSP Dan Ndukwe, disclosed this in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen on Sunday in Enugu.
According to Ndukwe, “the kidnappers, most of whom escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds, abandoned the victims due to the superior firepower of the Operatives”.
He said that one of the victims sustained a gunshot wound in his left thigh during the duel, but was moved to the hospital.
The statement read in part:
“He is responding to treatment and in stable condition; while others and all the operatives returned unscathed.
“The victims were reported to have been kidnapped at Umuopu village, along Ette/Ogugu Road, on 23/06/2023 at about 9.30 pm, on their way to Obollo-Afor, Enugu State from Ankpa, Kogi State, with the hoodlums said to have demanded ransom of N10,000,000.00 for each of them.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, fdc, has commended the team for acting on the strategies devised and adhering to his earlier order on the massive deployment of personnel and operational resources of the Command, to contain criminal cases of abduction/kidnapping in the State.
” He charges them and all the operatives of the Command to remain focused and sustain the onslaught against criminal elements, reiterating that the Police will never rest on their oars until the State is rid of unrepentant criminals and their activities.
“To this end, the CP has urged members of the public, especially owners of medical facilities, to report anyone sighted with gunshot injuries to the nearest Police Station for necessary action, in accordance with the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017,” Ndukwe said.
