Police operatives attached to Orerokpe Division in Delta State Police command on Saturday, December 31, 2022, rescued unhurt three victims who were abducted by suspected kidnappers.
The rescued victims (names withheld) were aged 40, 49 and 54 years.
Thenewsbearer learnt that the operatives were on visibility patrol duty along Warri/Sapele road by Okuvo and Egborede Communities, when they sighted some persons being dragged into the bush at about 1:20am.
The command’s spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, who made this known on Sunday, January 1, 2023, said that the operatives, who suspected that the people might have been kidnapped, trailed them into the bush.
“The hoodlums, on realising that the policemen were closing in on them, opened fire on the team, to which the policemen equally responded.
“The hoodlums, who could not withstand the firepower of the operatives, abandoned the victims and escaped,” the PPRO stated.
He said that the victims had been reunited with their families, while the command had embarked on a manhunt for the fleeing suspects.
In another development, operatives attached to ‘A’ Division, Warri, intercepted and recovered a black handbag containing a locally-made cut-to-size pistol from runaway suspects on Thursday, December 29.
Edafe said that the operatives were on a stop-and-search duty at the front of Daudu police outpost, Kpesu community Warri, when they sighted a tricycle driving against traffic.
He stated: “In an attempt to stop them, the suspects dangerously maneuver the tricycle and escaped, but in the process, a black handbag fell from the tricycle.
“Upon searching the bag, one locally-made cut-to-size pistol was recovered.
“Efforts to arrest the fleeing suspects are ongoing.”