Operatives of Ogun State Police Command on Saturday invaded the hideout of kidnappers terrorising the Kara Bridge end of Lagos-Ibadan expressway, arresting one suspect and rescuing a victim, Sheu Anafi.
A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said operatives stormed the hideout following a report lodged at Warewa divisional headquarters by a commercial driver.
The driver reported that while he was coming from Ilorin with seven passengers in his Ford car, he was attacked when he decided to go through the road beside the bridge due to traffic jam.
The statement narrated: “While driving through the said access road, they were attacked by some unknown gunmen which made all the passengers to run into different directions in the nearby bush.
“But when they all regrouped to continue their journey, it was discovered that one of the passengers by name Alhaji Sheu Anafi from Okeleele area of Ilorin has been abducted by the hoodlums.
“Upon the report, the DPO Warewa division, 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 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 years old Sheu Anafi was rescued unhurt.
“The suspect has confessed been a member of seven-man gang terrorizing the strech of the long bridge in recent time.”
The case, according to Oyeyemi, has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Departments, while the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has appealed to hospitals and the general public to report any person with gunshot injury.