By Raphael Ede
The Enugu State Police Command says it has killed two members of a kidnapping gang terrorising the state.
This was contained in a statement on Monday night by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe.
According to him, the kidnappers were shot dead during a gun battle with men of the police command, while the abducted victim was rescued.
Ndukwe noted that the operation was carried out by a combined team of police operatives, adding that it followed the policing thrust and the renewed crime-fighting impetus of the new CP Kanayo Uzuegbu.
The statement reads, “A combined team of police operatives drawn from the NPF Special Forces, Awkunanaw Police Division and Tactical Teams of the Enugu State Command, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, DCP Olasoji Akinbayo, on Sunday, August 20, 2023, at about 8 pm, rescued a male kidnap victim (names withheld) at Centenary, along Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway, after a gunfight with the hoodlums.
“One of the miscreants, simply identified as Baron, was neutralised on the spot in the ensuing shootout, while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
“The victim’s black-coloured Lexus 350 Jeep was recovered alongside 1 locally made revolver gun loaded with for 4 cartridges and another locally fabricated pistol belonging to the criminal elements.
“However, further manhunt of the fleeing members of the gang led to the discovery and recovery of the lifeless body of the second neutralized hoodlum, simply identified as Chukwunonso a.k.a. “Nolly”, in the morning hours of today, 21/08/2023, in a forest at the location of the gun duel.
“The two neutralised members of the criminal gang have been on the criminals’ watch list of the Command, while the operational success was due to the Operatives’ swift response to a distress call on the kidnap of the victim, along Agbani Road Enugu, in the said night.”
Ndukwe, however, quoted CP Uzuegbu to have commended the Operatives for quickly adapting to his newly introduced crime-fighting strategies. He also tasked them and all other Police personnel of the Command to sustain the tempo, stressing that there would be no breathing space for unrepentant criminals in the State, under his watch as the Commissioner of Police.
Source: The Punch
