The Enugu State Police Command says it has rescued four kidnapped victims in a forest at Aishi-Ette in the Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of the state.
The rescue operation, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, was assisted by the State Forest Guard and Neighbourhood Watch Group.
Ndukwe said that the victims – two males and two females – were rescued after a fierce gun battle with their abductors on Sunday.
He said the kidnappers after sustaining varying degrees of gunshot wounds, abandoned the victims and escaped, leading to the rescue of the victims.
According to the statement, one of the victims, however, sustained a gunshot wound in his left thigh during the gun battle.
Ndukwe said he was moved to the hospital immediately for medical attention and “is responding to treatment and in stable condition; while others and all the operatives returned unscathed”.
He said, “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 million for each of them.”
Ndukwe said the state police commissioner, Ahmed Ammani, 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 in the state.
The Command’s spokesman said that the CP charged all the operatives of the Command to remain focused and sustain the onslaught against criminal elements, reiterating that the police would never rest on their oars until the state was 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.”
