- Police operatives led by Deputy Commissioner Olasoji Akinbayo, successfully carried out an operation on August 20 at Centenary Layout, along the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Expressway.
- Ndukwe said that the two neutralised criminals had been on the watch-list of the command
On the outskirts of the Enugu city, the Police Command in Enugu State neutralised two suspected kidnappers and freed one male abduction victim (name withheld).
The victim’s black Lexus 350 Jeep was also found by the Command, along with a locally made revolver loaded with four ammunition and another locally made firearm that belonged to the criminal elements.
This information is included in a statement made on Tuesday in Enugu by DSP Daniel Ndukwe, the Command’s spokesman.
Ndukwe claimed that on 20 August at around 8:00 pm at Centenary Layout, along the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Motorway, police officers under the direction of the deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations, Mr. Olasoji Akinbayo, carried out the successful operation.
He said that the police operatives were drawn from the NPF Special Forces, Awkunanaw Police Division and tactical teams of the command.
“Following the policing thrust and renewed crime fighting impetus of the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Kanayo Uzuegbu, a combined team of police operatives rescued a male kidnap victim after a gun fight with the hoodlums.
“One of the miscreants, simply identified as ‘Baron’, was neutralised on the spot in the ensuing shootout, while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
“However, further manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang led to the discovery and recovery of the lifeless body of the second neutralised hoodlum.
“The second neutralised hoodlum was simply identified as Chukwunonso, a.k.a. ‘Nolly’, in the morning hours of Aug. 21 in a forest at the location of the gun duel,” he said.
Ndukwe said that the two neutralised criminals had been on the watch-list of the command.
According to him, the operational success was due to the swift response to a distress call on the kidnap of the victim along Agbani Road, Enugu, in the night.
The police spokesman commended the operatives for quickly adapting to his newly introduced crime-fighting strategies.
He said that the commissioner had previously tasked police officers and other personnel of the command to sustain the tempo.
“There will be no breathing space for unrepentant criminals in the State, under his (Uzuegbu) watch as the Commissioner of Police,” he added.