POLICE RESCUES 4 ENUGU KIDNAP VICTIMS, SAYS STORY OF KIDNAPPERS OPERATING THRICE IN A DAY ON ENUGU-UGWOGO ROAD FAKE

Enugu – Police Operatives of the Enugu State Command, serving in Igbo-Eze North Division, with active assistance from Forest Guard and Neighbourhood Watch Group, has today, Sunday, 25th June 2023, rescued four (4) kidnapped victims (two males and two females, names withheld), after an intense gun fight with the kidnappers in a forest at Aishi-Ette in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area.

2. The kidnappers, most of whom escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds, abandoned the victims due to the superior firepower of the Operatives. However, one of the victims sustained a gunshot wound in his left thigh during the duel, but was moved to the hospital, is responding to treatment and in stable condition; while others and all the Operatives returned unscathed.
3. The victims were reported to have been kidnapped at Umuopu village, along Ette/Ogugu Road, on 23/06/2023 at about 9.30 pm, on their way to Obollo-Afor, Enugu State from Ankpa, Kogi State, with the hoodlums said to have demanded ransom of N10,000,000.00 for each of them.
4. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, fdc, has commended the team for acting on the strategies devised and adhering to his earlier order on the massive deployment of personnel and operational resources of the Command, to contain criminal cases of abduction/kidnapping in the State. He charges them and all the Operatives of the Command to remain focused and sustain the onslaught against criminal elements, reiterating that the Police will never rest on their oars until the State is rid of unrepentant criminals and their activities.
5. To this end, the CP has urged members of the public, especially owners of medical facilities, to report anyone sighted with gunshot injuries to the nearest Police Station for necessary action, in accordance with the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017.

Earlier, on Saturday, the State Police Command through the PPRO had issued a statement describing as fake, a trending video and story claiming that the Enugu-Ugwogo road wasn’t safe, that kidnappers had operated there the previous day, three times.

According to Ndukwe, “forensic analysis of the video indicates that it did not happen anywhere in the country, let alone Enugu State”

The statement reads:

“The Enugu State Police Command is in receipt of a viral video clip depicting gunshots and people running in a forest, with the accompanying message that “Enugu-Ugwogo is not safe now… Yesterday, hoodlums kidnapped three times yesterday. The first was by 12pm, 2pm and 6pm.” This was similarly published in some news blogs and webpages with the title: “kidnappers conduct marathon operations at Nsukka-Ugwogo-Nike-Enugu Road”

2. The Command, therefore, wishes to state categorically that the video, with the accompanying message and the news publications, are not only untrue, but highly unfounded and misleading. This is because there was no such serial or repeated incident of kidnapping on the same day as reported, or shooting and chaotic incident as relayed in the video, at the mentioned location or any other part of the State.
3. As a matter of fact, forensic analysis of the video indicates that it did not happen anywhere in the country, let alone Enugu State. In the same vein, the Command sees the unverified and unfounded report of repeated kidnapping incidents on the same day, as a misleading and mischievous act of misinformation, aimed at creating panic in the State.
4. Nonetheless, the Command, while acknowledging the recent reoccurrence of acts of abduction/kidnapping at some locations of the said road, wishes to clearly state that sensationalizing and blowing the situation out of proportion, as intended by peddlers of the video clip and the publication, will never be in the best interest of the security and safety of the State and her people.