Police kill suspected kidnapper in gun duel, rescue 2 persons

Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have killed a suspected kidnapper in a gun duel with hoodlums along the Sagamu-Ijebu Ode road.

The police rescued two female captives, a youth corps member attached to the Federal Girls College, Sagamu, Okoroji Agnes, and one Tawa Sosanwo, after the shoot-out.

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The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement he issued in Abeokuta on Wednesday, said the incident happened when the Divisional Police Officer of the Sagamu Division, Okiki Agunbiade, was on routine patrol with his men and sighted a Sienna bus marked MUS 86 FN along the route.

Oyeyemi explained that the operatives suspected occupants of the vehicle and subsequently ordered the driver of the car to stop.

The PPRO stated, “But instead of the driver to stop, he sped off towards the Ijebu-Ode road, consequent upon which the DPO ordered his men to chase the vehicle. Having realized that they were being pursued, the men in the car started firing at the policemen while on the move and the policemen fired back.

“They then jumped down, abandoned the car and ran into the bush. The policemen chased them into the bush and shot one of them dead, while others escaped with gunshot injuries.”

Oyeyemi added that the two victims narrated how they were kidnapped at different locations by the hoodlums and were being taken to an unknown destination when the police intercepted them.

He said the police recovered the kidnappers’ operational car, with one black toy gun, one gold wrist watch, one Samsung Galaxy S7 phone, one cutlass and one black wrist watch.

Oyeyemi quoted the Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, as praising the “gallant officers”, and appealing to members of the public, especially hospitals, to inform the police if they saw anybody with gunshot injuries in their area.

He added that Ebrimson had assured members of the public that the fleeing members of the gang would be arrested in the shortest possible time.