The Nigeria Police have rescued 27 kidnap victims including five Chinese nationals as part of the on-goingOperation Puff Adder.
Force Public relations Officer (FPRO), DCP Frank Mba, who made this known in a press statement, Thursday in Abuja, said the Chinese citizens, who were earlier kidnapped on April 15, 2019, in Bobi, Niger state, were safely rescued on May 5, from a forest in Birnin Gwari, Kaduna state, following painstaking investigative efforts.
He said 22 other kidnap victims were rescued in Zamfara state and other parts of the country, noting that two of the suspected kidnappers died from injuries sustained during exchange of gun fire with the Police in the course of the rescue mission.
The spokesperson said the acting Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, in continuation of the efforts to speedily curb internal security challenges in some parts of the country has rolled out new counter-kidnapping operational strategies.
He said the new strategies, which were rolled out on Thursday, are purposeful and intelligence-driven and targeted at identifying, locating and dismantling kidnapping gangs across the nation as well as bringing the kidnappers and their collaborators to justice.
“It is designed to complement and strengthen theOperation Puff Adder currently going on in several states of the federation.
“The operation will involve the deployment of undercover operatives, decoy operations and high-level tactical missions with active participation of operatives drawn from the conventional Police Units, the Force Intelligence Unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), the Special Anti-kidnapping Squads and the Police Tactical Units comprising the Police Mobile Force (PMF), the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) and the Special Forces,” Mba said.
The statement further disclosed that 270 suspected kidnappers and 275 suspected armed robbers were arrested, just as 105 assorted weapons including a large cache of ammunition were recovered by the police between January 2019 and the 1st week of May.
