Police operatives in Enugu State have rescued four kidnap victims through two separate intelligence-led operations, one of which stretched across the state’s border with Benue State, according to a statement from the Enugu State Police Command.
The operations, carried out on Tuesday, also led to the recovery of live ammunition, suspected hard drugs, and other items linked to the suspects, who fled during the rescues and remain at large. In one of the incidents, officers recovered the decomposing body of a male captive who had been shot dead by his abductors before he could be rescued.
In the first operation, officers from the Udenu Police Division worked alongside the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Section, its Distress Response Squad, and security partners from Benue State — including police, civil protection guards, the Nigerian Army, and local vigilante groups — to track down two brothers who had been abducted on August 3 at Ezimo-Ulo in Udenu Local Government Area.
The joint team, which drew on a community policing initiative championed by the Inspector-General of Police, traced the kidnappers to a hideout in Ikele, in Benue State’s Ogbadibo Local Government Area. Following a gun battle around 1:40 p.m. on August 4, the suspects fled with gunshot wounds, leaving both victims unharmed.
Items recovered from the hideout included fifteen rounds of live ammunition, the victims’ phones and car keys, additional phones and accessories, suspected illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia, clothing, and roughly ₦11,800 in cash. The two brothers were debriefed by police and reunited with their family.
In a separate operation, officers from the Umabor Police Division, together with the Anti-Kidnapping Section and local security volunteers, rescued two more victims who had been kidnapped on July 31 in Amukpa Village, part of the Ogbozara community in Nsukka Local Government Area.
However, the operation also turned up grim news: a third victim taken in the same incident had died in captivity from gunshot wounds. His decomposing remains were recovered from a nearby forest. The two surviving victims were debriefed and returned to their families.
The Commissioner of Police for Enugu State, CP Mamman Bitrus Giwa, praised the officers and allied security agencies involved for their bravery and coordination. He has ordered continued efforts to track down the suspects who escaped, and reaffirmed the Command’s commitment to tackling violent crime in the state.
The Commissioner also renewed calls for members of the public to remain alert and report credible information to police.
