Judex Okoro, Calabar
Four Chinese have been kidnapped just as one police officer was killed by hoodlums in Cross River State.
The Chinese who were whisked away include Kan Jinxi, Hujinchang, Jiang Jijun and Cheng Qing, while the police officer, Sgt. Ifere Sampson, a guard attached to them, lost his life in a gun duel.
This is coming barely two months after the government declared war against kidnapping and cultism, destroying some houses belonging to alleged cult kingpins.
Mrs. Ekwele Agube, the wife of Justice Ignatius Agube of the Appeal Court, was kidnapped from her shop at Ekorinim in Calabar Municipality on July 2, 2020 and was released after millions of naira was paid as ransom.
Her personal assistant, Glory Akpama, who was with her at the time of the incident, was shot and killed.
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that the Chinese were kidnapped about 7pm at their granite construction site located at Oban community in Akampka local government area and taken to unknown destination.
It was learnt that the gun men numbering about eight stormed the company’s premises with a three tinted glass cars, including Audi and Camry salon, and on arrival, opened fire on the officer, who replied but was later over-powered by the attackers.
Sources close to the company said the kidnappers are yet to call for them to know what next to do, adding that most of the foreigners doing business within Akamkpa have gone into hiding since the incident.
Workers at the site, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said for quite some time criminals have been terrorising the area and companies operating within that axis have been paying what they call “toll” to the hoodlums. The workers regretted that even as the companies pay all sorts of levies, operational fees, landing fees and tax running into several millions of naira to state government, government had failed to provide security for them.
Reacting, the police public relations officer in the state, Irene Ugbo, said it was true that a police officer was killed during the unfortunate incident and assured that the police was on top of the situation.
She said: “As I speak with you, the deputy commissioner of police and some team of officers are on their way to the area. I will give you more details. I cannot really tell you much about the details of the unfortunate incident but as they conduct preliminary investigations, I will give you extra details.”