Police kill kidnapper, injure others in Aba

From OKEY SAMPSON, Aba
A suspected member of a kidnap gang that has allegedly terrorized Aba in Abia State and its environs has met his waterloo as he was on Sunday evening, shot dead by the police in the commercial city while other members of the gang sustained gunshot wounds.
Police, during an operation that was led by the area commander, ACP Rabiu Dayi, also smashed the kidnappers’ hideout located in Osisioma area of the state.
Briefing newsmen in Aba, Rabiu Dayi said his men received a distress call that a prominent businessman residing at Omenazu Street, was kidnapped at a barbing salon close to his house.
He said on getting the information, the police swung into action and traced the kidnappers to their hideout in Umuodaba village in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
On seeing the police, the alleged kidnappers were said to have opened fire on the police and in the ensuing gun duel, one of the kidnappers was shot dead while three others escaped with bullet wounds.
“The kidnappers operating in a white Hilux van abducted the businessman at a barbing salon around Faulks Road. When we traced them to their hideout in a village at Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area along the expressway, they opened fire on the police but we overpowered them and rescued the victim unhurt,” the Area commander said.
Dayi stated that most of the victims of kidnappings in the city revealed that they were taken to a hideout where they heard the movement of motorists and siren blown by security agents, stressing that the place where the businessman was rescued fitted the description.
He said that from information available to the police, the kidnappers also operated in Nekede and Orlu areas of Imo State and took their victims to their hideout in the village at Osisioma Ngwa.
Items recovered from the suspects include two motorcycles and two AK 47 rifles with 49 rounds of live ammunition each.
The Area Commander called on the residents of the city to volunteer information about criminals to the police.