A joint team of local vigilantes and hunters group, on Sunday, foiled kidnap of travellers at Ahoko bridge, along the Abuja-Lokoja highway.
A member of the vigilante, who was part of the joint operation but preferred anonymity, said the two suspected kidnappers were arrested.
He said the kidnappers suddenly appeared at a sharp bend some few meters away from the bridge and were about to open fire on vehicles when the combined team of the vigilantes and hunters arrived.
“Actually, we were on a combined patrol with the vigilante and hunters while descending down the bridge, when two among the kidnappers suddenly appeared and attempted to open fire on a vehicle, in which we immediately engaged them,” he said.
He said the two kidnappers attempted to escape, after their guns did not fire, but were apprehended immediately.
“But the other gang members hiding inside the bush close to the roadside immediately escaped after they discovered that two of their members have been arrested,” he said.
The vigilante member said the two kidnappers have been handed over to security agents in Lokoja, Kogi State capital along with two guns recovered from them.
He said the team had been combing the forest around the area to trace their hideout.
The Kogi State Commander of the hunters’ group, Hassan Yakubu, confirmed the arrest of two suspected kidnappers at Ahoko, saying the suspected kidnappers have been handed over to security agents.
The spokesman of the Kogi State Police Command, CSP Williams Ovye Aya, was yet to pick calls or reply to a text message sent to his phone line about the incident.