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Police engage kidnappers in gun battle, arrest one on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

The operatives of Ogun State Police Command have raided the hideout of suspected kidnappers in the state and arrested one of the gunmen.

The suspected kidnappers, according to the police, were responsible for some of the kidnapping incidents on the Kara bridge, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ogun State.

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this to journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital on Sunday.

Oyeyemi said a joint team of the police, local vigilantes, operatives of the So Safe corps and men of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) stormed the hideout of the kidnappers on Saturday and rescued one of their victims, identified as Sheu Anafi, while one of the suspects was also arrested.

He stated that the kidnappers earlier attacked a commercial car along the highway and abducted one of the passengers, adding that the police raided the hideout of the kidnappers following a report lodged at Warewa divisional headquarters by a commercial driver.

“The commercial driver told the police that, while he was coming from Ilorin in his Ford commercial car with registration number, LRN 596 ZY, loaded with seven passengers, on getting to the long bridge, there was traffic jam consequence upon which he drove through the untared access road beside the bridge.

“While driving through the said access road, they were attacked by some unknown gunmen which made all the passengers run into different directions in the nearby bush.

“But, when they all regrouped to continue their journey, it was discovered that one of the passengers by name Alhaji Sheu Anafi from Okeleele area of Ilorin has been abducted by the hoodlums.

“Upon the report, the DPO Warewa division, CSP Abdul Fatai Ogunsanya led a joint operation consisting men of the command’s tactical teams, local vigilantes, so safe corps, and OPC men 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 road, Kano State, was arrested while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot injuries, and the victim, 62-year-old Sheu Anafi was rescued unhurt,” the police spokesperson disclosed.

Oyeyemi added that the suspect confessed being a member of seven-man gang terrorising the stretch of the long bridge in recent times.

He stated that the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the state Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation.

The Star