Police free abducted Kwara passenger in Ogun, arrest suspected kidnapper

The Ogun State Police Command says its men invaded the hideout of kidnappers around the Kara bridge end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and arrested one member of the gang.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement added that a kidnap victim, Sheu Anafi, was rescued unhurt.

The PPRO added that the suspected kidnapper arrested, Ibraheem Abubakar, confessedthat he was a member of a seven-man kidnap gang based around the Kara bridge.

He said, “The men of the command took the battle to the doorstep of the hoodlums following a report lodged at Warewa divisional headquarters by a commercial driver.

“The driver had reported that he was coming from Ilorin, Kwara State, in his commercial car with number plate, LRN 596 ZY, loaded with seven passengers, and on getting to the long bridge, there was traffic jam consequence upon which he drove through the untarred access road besides the bridge.”

Oyeyemi said the driver told the police that while driving through the access road, they vehicle and its occupants were attacked by some gunmen.

The driver was said to have added that when they later continued their journey, it was discovered that one of the passengers, one Alhaji Sheu Anafi, had been abducted by the hoodlums.

The PPRO said the Divisional Police Officer, Warewa, CSP Abdul-Fatai Ogunsanya, led a joint operation consisting men of the command’s tactical teams, local vigilantes, So Safe Corps, among others for bush combing in search of the abducted man.

“Their efforts yielded positive result when the hideout of the kidnappers was located and the security operatives engaged them in gun battle.

“At the end of the encounter, one of the kidnappers, Ibraheem Abubakar, who claimed to have come from Sabonganmu-Bompai, Kano State, was arrested while others escaped with injuries, and the victim was rescued unhurt.

“The suspect has confessed being a member of a seven-man gang terrorising the the long bridge area in recent time,” the PPRO said.

He added that the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered that the suspect be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department.