TELL Magazine

Six suspected kidnappers on Wednesday met their waterloo as they were gunned down by men of the Edo State police command along the Benin-Lagos Expressway.

Five kidnap victims were rescued following a gun duel with the outlaws in the Ahor area of the Benin by-pass.

The lucky victims, who were travelling in a commercial bus to the south-east from Lagos, were said to have ran into the kidnappers around 6:30 am on Wednesday.

According to one of them, the vehicle he entered was lucky to be coming from the opposite direction when they ran into the incident.

Confirming the incident in a press statement Wednesday evening, Bello Kontongs, spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, said “Operatives of the Edo State Police Command; while on investigation activities along Benin/Lagos bypass, neutralised six (6) suspected kidnappers who are believed to be part of the notorious gang terrorising the ever busy Benin/Lagos express way and environs, today 13/04/2022 luck ran out on the suspected kidnappers while trying to whisk away passengers of an 18-seater bus they intercepted travelling from Lagos to the East.

“The team of operatives, on sighting the suspected kidnappers, engaged them in a gun duel. The superior fire power of the team of police operatives injured six (6) of them and were subsequently arrested, taken to the hospital but confirmed dead by the medical practitioner on duty, while others fled in different directions with various degrees of bullet injuries. One pump action was recovered from the scene.

“Meanwhile alll the passengers onboard were rescued unhurt, profiled, and asked to continue their journey. Bush-combing is on-going to arrest other fleeing gang members”.

The state commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, while commending the prompt response of the team of operatives, used the medium to assure the general public of the Command’s readiness under his watch to take the fight against criminal elements to their door steps, so as to allow law-abiding citizens sleep with their two eyes closed. Yaro therefore advised criminal elements in the state and their cohorts to repent or risk being arrested.

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