FCT police engage kidnappers in gun duel, rescue kidnap victim

The operatives of the FCT Police Command have engaged suspected kidnappers in a gun duel and rescued an abducted victim in Abuja.

The commissioner of police in the FCT, CP Haruna Garba, stated this during a press while parading some robbery and kidnap suspects at the police command headquarters in Abuja, on Wednesday.

He said the rescued victim, identified as Segun Akinyemi, who resides in Birnin Kebbi Street, Garki Abuja, was abducted by kidnappers while driving out of his house in a Hilux van.

 He said four armed men in a Mercedes Benz car descended on the victim, adding that the command control room upon receiving a distress call, alerted the patrol teams and men of the exit/entry point for the rescue of the man who succeeded in arresting the suspects.

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According to him, the command placed a call to its counterparts in the contiguous states, especially Kaduna, and the operatives in Kaduna intercepted the armed hoodlums at a filling station in Kawo.

“There was an exchange of fire between the police operatives and the kidnappers, while three of them escaped. One of the suspects, later identified as Chinaza Philip Okoye, was arrested,” he said.

He said three English pistols with 15 rounds of live ammunition and the Hilux van were recovered from the suspects, and that preliminary investigation revealed that two of the four armed men were Abuja-based; Chinaza Philip, Okoye Michael and one Chidibere.

CP Garba, however, said it was also discovered that Chinaza Philip and Okoye Michael and other accomplices had been arrested, sometime in November 2023, for armed robbery, after they snatched a Honda car, which he said was later recovered from the gang. 

“The suspect and his accomplices were arraigned before a high court in Kwali, Abuja, but were granted bail, only for the suspects to get involved in this particular kidnapping case,’ the CP said.

He also disclosed that operatives of the police at Iddo division have rescued another kidnap victim, Suleiman Sabo, at Sauka village, also in Abuja.

He said the victim was rescued after the DPO of Iddo division received a distress call that some armed bandits in a black Toyota Corolla car fired shots  at the tyres of a moving Prado Jeep of a male adult, who was later identified as Suleiman Sabo, who was on his way home in Sabon Lugbe, 

The CP said the victim was whisked away inside the kidnappers’ vehicle to an unknown location, leaving behind his Prado Jeep and his wife.