MICHAEL AKINOLA
Police operatives from the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Ari Muhammed Ali, led Zone 2 Police Command, invaded the den of suspected kidnappers, shot four dead and recovered assorted weapons in a fierce gun battle in Ogun State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the notorious members of the kidnap gang had been terrorizing the residents as well as motorists plying highways between Lagos and Ogun State over a period of time until the Police crushed them on Thursday,15th June, 2023.
The fierce gun battle between the gang and the Police, which lasted for several hours, left four of the criminals shot dead while others escaped with bullet injuries. Sophisticated weapons, mostly AK47, ammunitions and motorbike were recovered at the scene.
This was disclosed by the Zone 2 Police Public Relations Officer, SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu, who stated that acting on intelligence, AIG Ali ordered a 24-hour surveillance in the area.
The Police also had intelligence of the modus of operations of the kidnappers, who were made up of both indigenes and non indigenes of Ogun State, as well as foreign nationals, mostly from Chad and Niger Republic.
The Commander of the dispatched Police crack team was ordered to flush out the criminals from the location, and so they moved into action. When members of the gang observed the encroachment of the Police to their hideout, the criminals immediately opened fire, which led to a fierce gun battle that lasted for hours, resulting in the casualties recorded by the gang who were already ambushed by the operatives.
Sensing the superior fire power of the invading Police team, especially after recording fatal casualties, the criminals reportedly abandoned their camps and took to their heels through an alternative hidden escape route inside the forest.
SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu, disclosed that the operatives during a search carried out in the camps recovered four (4) dead bodies and assort rifles as well a motorbike used by the criminals in navigating their way in the jungle.
She stated, “A syndicate of kidnappers, who have been terrorizing residents of Abeokuta (the capital of Ogun State) and its environs, especially motorists along the major Lagos-Abeokuta highway were seen somewhere suspected to be their hideout”.
“Consequently, a team of Detectives from the Zonal Monitoring Unit swung into action; on sighting the Police in their hideout at a forest along Ibara Orile, Ogun State, the kidnappers engaged the detectives in a gun duel, where four kidnappers were neutralized while others escaped with bullet wounds.”
“Thereafter, when the hideout was later searched, One (1) unregistered Bajaj Motorcycle, Four (4) AK47 rifles, Six (6) magazines loaded with 20 live ammunition, 10 expended ammunition and four (4) corpses were recovered.”
“Further investigation into the incident revealed that members of the syndicate were drawn from different parts of the country while some of them came from the neighboring countries of Niger and Chad respectively.”
“However, efforts are on top gear to arrest the other fleeing suspects while investigation is in progress” she concluded.