One arrested as security agencies battle kidnappers in Ogun

Joint security forces in Ogun State have rescued a captive and arrested one suspect after combing kidnappers’ hideout along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. 

A team of Police, local vigilantes, so safe corps and OPC men reportedly stormed the hideout and engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle, which lasted for some minutes. 

The Police Spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said in a statement on Sunday that the kidnap syndicate had been terrorising commuters at the Kara Bridge end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Oyeyemi said the joint security forces invaded the hideout following a report of an attack on passengers along the route. 

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He added that the police at Warewa divisional headquarters had received a report from a commercial driver that while he was on his way from Ilorin with his commercial car, he plied an untarred access road around the long bridge, due to a traffic logjam. 

According to him, the driver said while he driving through the access road, they were attacked by some gunmen, which made the passengers run in 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,” Oyeyemi quoted the driver as narrating. 

He said after receiving the report, the DPO, Warewa division, CSP Abdul Fatai Ogunsanya, led a joint operation consisting of men of the command’s tactical teams, local Vigilantes, so safe corps and OPC men, in search of the abducted man.

He said the joint security team invaded the hideout and engaged the hoodlums in a 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. The victim, 62 years old Sheu Anafi, was rescued unhurt. 

“The suspect has confessed to being a member of a seven-man gang terrorizing the stretch of the long bridge in recent time,” he said. 

Oyeyemi quoted the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, to have ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the state Criminal Investigation Departments for discreet investigation.

He said the CP also appealed to members of the public, especially hospitals to inform the police if anybody with gunshot injury is seen in their area.