Operatives of the Enugu State Police Command have rescued four kidnap victims in separate operations across Enugu and neighbouring Benue State, while recovering the decomposing body of another victim allegedly killed by his abductors.
The Command’s spokesperson, SP Daniel Ndukwe, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the operations were carried out through coordinated intelligence-led missions involving police operatives, the Nigerian Army, the Enugu State Forest Guards, neighbourhood watch personnel, vigilante groups and the Benue State Civil Protection Guards.
In one operation, security operatives rescued two brothers abducted from Ezimo-Ulo in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State after tracking their captors to Ikele in Owukpa Community, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State.
The joint team, comprising personnel from the Udenu Police Division, the Anti-Kidnapping Section of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), the Distress Response Squad (DRS) and the Orukam Police Division, engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle, forcing them to flee with suspected gunshot wounds and leaving the victims behind.
The operation, conducted under the Inspector-General of Police’s Handshake Patrol initiative, also led to the recovery of 15 rounds of live ammunition, the victims’ Android phones and car keys, several mobile phones and accessories, a bottle containing substances suspected to be hard drugs and related paraphernalia, clothing items and ₦11,800. The rescued victims were debriefed and reunited with their family.
In a separate operation, operatives of the Umabor Police Division, working with the VCRU’s Anti-Kidnapping Section, the Enugu State Forest Guards and neighbourhood watch personnel, rescued two other victims abducted at Amukpa Village in Ogbozara Community, Nsukka Local Government Area.
However, one of the kidnapped victims was not as fortunate. Police recovered his decomposing body from a forest, where investigators believe he died from gunshot wounds inflicted by his abductors while in captivity.
Ndukwe said investigations were ongoing, adding that security operatives had intensified efforts to arrest the fleeing suspects involved in both incidents.
