A suspected kidnapper, Ibraheem Abubakar, has been arrested by the police during a gun battle around the Kara Bridge end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday said the police also rescued a kidnap victim, Sheu Anafi.
Oyeyemi said the arrest was made on Saturday after his men invaded the hideout of the suspect and rescued the victim, who was one of the passengers whose vehicle was attacked by a gang of kidnappers.
He said, “Men of the command took the battle to the doorstep of the hoodlums following a report lodged at the Warewa divisional headquarters by a commercial driver.
“The driver reported that he was coming from Ilorin in his Ford commercial car loaded with seven passengers; on getting to the Longbridge, there was traffic jam, consequence upon which he drove through the untarred access road beside the bridge.
“While driving through the said access road, they were attacked by some unknown gunmen, which made all the passengers to run in different directions into the nearby bush.
“But when they all regrouped to continue their journey, it was discovered that one of the passengers, Alhaji Sheu Anafi, from the Okeleele area of Ilorin, has been abducted by the hoodlums.
“Upon the report, the DPO, Warewa, CSP Abdul-Fatai Ogunsanya, led a joint operation consisting men of the command’s tactical teams, local vigilantes, So-Safe Corps and OPC men, for bush combing in search of the abducted man.
“Their efforts yielded positive result when the hideout of the kidnappers was located and the security operatives engaged them in a gun battle.
“At the end of the encounter, one of the kidnappers, Ibraheem Abubakar, who claimed to have come from Sabonganmu-Bompai Road, Kano State, was arrested, while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot injuries, and the victim, 62-year-old Sheu Anafi, was rescued unhurt.
“The suspect has confessed to being a member of a seven-man gang terrorising the stretch of the Longbridge in recent time.”
Oyeyemi noted that the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the State Criminal Investigation Department for a discreet investigation.
He said, “The CP also appealed to members of the public, especially hospitals, to inform the police if anybody with gunshot injury is seen in their area.”