The Delta State Police Command says it has rescued a 63-year-woman (name not given) from kidnappers’ den along the Irri-Aviara Road in Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
Bright Edafe, Police Public Relations Officer in the Command, in a statement on Sunday, said that the victim was kidnapped on November 26 at about 6:30pm at the Olori Road, Ughelli in Ughelli North Local Government Area on her way home.
“On 30/11/2021, at about 10pm, acting on information received from a motorcyclist that a lady, aged 63, of Ughelli town, was seen with two boys armed with machetes in an isolated place along Irri-Aviara community road.
“The DPO, Oleh Division, SP Paul Oboware, mobilized and led Police patrol teams in a combined effort with vigilante and cordoned the surrounding bushes.
“The hoodlums, on sighting the police, abandoned the victim and escaped into the bush,” the statement read in part.
In another development, men of the Command foiled an attempt on a man (name withheld) who recently returned from Europe.
Edafe, in the statement, said the DPO of Oleh Division “received another distress call from the vigilante deployed around Irri Roundabout, Oleh, that some hoodlums were sighted near the roundabout and operating in a white Toyota Hilux without a registration number.”
The statement read that in an attempt to abduct the man, a disagreement ensued among the suspected kidnappers which made residents become suspicious thereby alerting the vigilante.
“The DPO of Oleh Division again led a combined team of Police operatives/vigilante to the area in a planned operation which led to the arrest of one of the suspects,” it read, adding that the suspect, upon interrogation, “confessed to being part of the gang that kidnapped the 63-year-old woman on 30/11/2021 and abandoned her when they noticed that the police were closing in on them.
“Suspect led police operatives to his house where one Ak 47 rifle, 19 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, one magazine, one pump action gun, and 26 live cartridges concealed in a sack and buried in the compound, were recovered.”
It stated that manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang was ongoing.
