The Enugu State Police Command has apprehended two alleged kidnappers and freed one male abduction victim (name withheld) from the outskirts of the city of Enugu.
The victim’s black Lexus 350 Jeep, a locally created revolver gun with four ammunition, and another locally made handgun belonged to the criminal elements were also found by the Command.
The Command’s spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Enugu.
According to Ndukwe, the successful operation was carried out on 20 August at around 8:00 pm at Centenary Layout, along the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Motorway, by police officers under the direction of Mr Olasoji Akinbayo, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations.
The NPF Special Forces, the Awkunanaw Police Division, and tactical teams under the command, according to him, provided the police operatives.
“Following the policing initiative and reinvigorated crime-fighting zeal of the state’s commissioner of police, Mr. Kanayo Uzuegbu, a combined team of police officers freed a male kidnap victim after engaging the criminals in gun combat.
“One of the criminals, known only as “Baron,” was instantly killed during the shootout that followed, while the others managed to flee with bullet wounds of different severity.
However, more manpower sent in search of the gang’s fugitives resulted in the discovery and recovery of the second hoodlum’s dead body.
In the early hours of August 21 in a woodland near the site of the gun duel, Chukwunonso, a.k.a. “Nolly,” was simply identified as the second neutralised hoodlum, according to him.
Ndukwe claimed that the two criminals who had been neutralised had been on the command’s surveillance list.
He said that the operation’s success was a result of the quick response to a distress call regarding the victim’s kidnapping near Agbani Road in Enugu at night.
The police spokesperson praised the agents for promptly adjusting to his newly implemented crime-fighting tactics.
He claimed that the commissioner had already given orders to the police force and other members of the command to maintain the pace.
Under his (Uzuegbu) leadership as the Commissioner of Police, he continued, “there will be no breathing space for unrepentant criminals in the State.”
