OPERATIVES of the Rivers State Police Command have arrested 18 suspected kidnappers and rescued seven victims, who were abducted in various parts of the state.
The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Francis Odesanya, who said this while parading some of the hoodlums in Port Harcourt on Thursday, said security operatives had engaged the kidnappers in a shootout in one of their hideouts in Ubima before they were overpowered.
Odesanya added that over 20 suspects belonging to different cult groups were arrested in some parts of the state within the past one month.
The CP identified one Mr. Okechukwu Njoku as one of the kidnapped victims, who regained their freedom during security operatives’ shootout with the hoodlums.
He recalled that Njoku was kidnapped on July 29, 2016 and was rescued at Mercy Land in Port Harcourt after a protracted gun duel with kidnappers, adding that two of the hoodlums were apprehended during the operation.
The CP added that six hostages were rescued in a forest in Ubima by policemen, who acted on a tip-off.
“The Command’s Anti-kidnapping Unit arrested one Chukwuemeka and Eluwakwe Nwato and two others for their involvement in the kidnap of a 13-old-girl who was kidnapped from her home in Egberu, Afam Community, Oyigbo.
“Again, men of the command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit, based on credible intelligence, rescued some hostages, who were abducted along Elele-Owerri Road. The police had a fierce gun battle with the hoodlums, but overpowered them and rescued the hostages,” Odesanya said.
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