Police gun down wanted kidnappers, rescue victims

Disclosing the killing of the kidnappers, Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Grace Iringe-Koko said four persons blindfolded and found in the kidnappers’ den were rescued after spending two days in captivity.

In a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Capital, Iringe-Koko noted that the kidnap victims were rescued after operatives subdued the hoodlums during an exchange of gunfire.

Revealing how he was abducted, one of the victims, who’s a commercial driver, 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 explained that 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.

“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,” the victim added.

He said the kidnappers tortured them and extracted funds from them via their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and from their families.

The driver said, “They removed the sum of ₦800,000 from one of the victims’ accounts and ₦1.9 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.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu commended the men of the command for their professionalism and persistence in fighting crime and criminality.