From Joseph Obukata, Warri
The police in Delta state has rescued three kidnap victims after their captors abandoned them in the bush during a gunfight with hoodlums along Warri/Sapele road.
The kidnap victims were abducted on Saturday, December 31, 2022, at about 0120hours, along Warri/Sapele road by Okuvo and Egborede Communities and were being dragged into the bush when the police intervened.
State Police Public Relation Officer DSP Bright Edafe who confirmed this in a statement on Sunday, said that operatives attached to Orerokpe Division were on visibility patrol duty when they sighted some persons being dragged into the bush on the fateful day.
Suspecting that the victims may have been kidnapped, police trailed the captors into the bush but the hoodlums, upon realizing that the policemen were closing in on them, opened fire on the team, and the policeman equally responded, Edafe said.
He said that the hoodlums who could not withstand the firepower of the operatives abandoned the victims and escaped.
The victims (names withheld) aged 40yrs, 54yrs and 49yrs respectively, were rescued unhurt and have been reunited with their families, the police spokesman added.
He said that manhunt for the fleeing suspects is ongoing.
Similarly, on Friday December 29, 2022, the police recovered one locally made cut-to-size pistol after they intercepted a fleecing tricycle in Kpesu community, near Warri.
Edafe said that while Police operatives attached to ‘A’ division Warri were on stop and search duty at the front of Daudu police outpost, Kpesu community Warri, they sighted a tricycle driving against traffic.
In an attempt to stop them, the suspects dangerously maneuver the tricycle and escaped, but in the process, a black handbag fell from the tricycle.
He said that upon searching the bag, one locally made cut-to-size pistol was recovered, adding that efforts to arrest the fleeing suspects are ongoing.