In the early hours of Wednesday, December 14, 2023, men of the Rivers State Police Command engaged a notorious gang of kidnappers and rescued four victims from their clutches.
Gunshots rang out as the four blindfolded men scrambled in confusion. When the gunshots ceased, the four men were eased off their blindfolds and realized that they had been rescued by the Police from an ordeal in which they had lost hope. Despair had immediately translated to jubilation. They had just been rescued after spending 48 gruelling hours in the den of an infamous kidnapper and his gang.
According to one of the victims, a commercial driver, he was on one of his routine trips back to Port Harcourt when he noticed an obstruction caused by a large tree trunk placed across the road. He was driving a Sienna, and an Audi car was in front of him. Whilst he was contemplating reversing, some men emerged from the bush and fired bullets at the tyres of his vehicle and that of the Audi. The men, numbering six, asked them to lie on the ground but grabbed them and took them through strange bush paths as they noticed a Police van approaching. The Police shot several times, but they had been taken too deep into the forest.
The kidnappers tortured them and extracted funds from them via their ATM cards and from their families. They removed the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (NGN 800,000) from one of the victims’ accounts and One Million Nine Hundred Thousand Naira (NGN 1,900,000) from another.
Throughout their stay, the kidnappers only gave them tiny pieces of bread and sachet water. The victims also informed the Policemen who rescued them that they had been blindfolded all through their travail.
The Policemen on Patrol on the day of the kidnapping did not stop searching for the victims and were pleased to discover the camp of the kidnappers on the third day of searching. They proceeded to conduct prompt but thorough surveillance to eliminate the incidence of collateral damage before engaging the criminals.
In the confrontation that ensued, two of the kidnappers were killed, including the leader of the gang, Sunday Amadi, aka ‘Occasion’, who had had a Two Million Naira bounty placed on him by the Chairman of Emohua Local Government Area. One of the victims had to be taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital after sustaining injuries from the kidnappers.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Tunji Disu, commended the men of the Command for their professionalism and persistence in bringing criminals to their knees. He stated that the Rivers State Police Command under his watch would stop at nothing to rid the state of criminals.
“He assured the rescued victims of proper post-rescue care from the Rivers State Police Command. After visiting the wounded victim at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, CP Disu expressed the readiness of the Men of the Rivers State Police Command to flush out every kidnap syndicate or gang in the state.
He further reiterated his assurance to River State people to enjoy the yuletide freely as the Rivers State command has escalated patrols in the state and will not back down on the resolve to make Rivers State crime-free. He encouraged everyone intending to visit the state for Christmas to do so without fear.