Operatives of Ogun state Police Command weekend invaded the hideout of kidnappers who have been terrorising the Kara Bridge end of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and arrested one member of the kidnap gang, while a kidnapped victim, Sheu Anafi, was rescued unhurt.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, made this known to Blueprint Sunday, in Abeokuta.
Oyeyemi stated that the men of the command took the battle to the door step of the hoodlums following a report lodged at Warewa Divisional Headquarters by a commercial driver.
He stated that the driver said while he was coming from Ilorin in his Ford commercial car with registration number LRN 596 ZY, loaded with seven passengers and on getting to the long bridge, there was traffic jam, consequence upon which he drove through the access road besides the bridge.
While driving through the said access road, they were attacked by some unknown gunmen and all passengers ran into different directions in the nearby bush.
But when they all regrouped to continue their journey, it was discovered that one of the passengers, by name Alhaji Sheu Anafi, from Okeleele area of Ilorin has been abducted by the hoodlums.
Upon the report, the DPO, Warewa Division, CSP Abdul Fatai Ogunsanya, led a joint operation consisting men of the command’s tactical teams, local vigilantes and OPC men for bush combing in search of the abducted man.
Their efforts yielded positive result when the hideout of the kidnappers was located and the security operatives engaged them in gun battle.
At the end of the encounter, one of the kidnappers, Ibraheem Abubakar, who claimed to have come from Sabonganmu-Bompai Road, Kano state, was arrested while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot injuries, and the victim, 62- year- old Sheu Anafi, was rescued unhurt.
The suspect confessed been a member of seven-man gang terrorising the stretch of the long bridge.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the state Criminal Investigation Departments for discreet investigation.
