Men of the Benue State Police Command have rescued 10 kidnap victims, including a medical doctor, Etito Obadiah.
Obadiah, who works at the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, was rescued on Monday by policemen.
The state Commissioner of Police, Okoro Julius, disclosed this on Monday while parading some suspects arrested in connection with the abduction of the medical doctor and nine others allegedly found in the kidnappers’ den.
Also paraded were some suspected cult members arrested in connection with the killing of 29-year-old Babatunde Moses.
Okoro said, “The police team of Operation Zenda JTF trailed the kidnappers to their hideout at Gaya Village, Utange council ward in the Kastina Ala Local Government Area of Benue State.
“On sighting the police, the kidnappers engaged them in a gun duel that claimed the life of one of the kidnappers; three suspects were arrested while others escaped into a nearby bush with bullet wounds. 10 kidnap victims, including the doctor, were rescued unhurt.”
The police commissioner added that five people were arrested in connection with the killing of Moses, adding that the killers removed some of the deceased’s organs.
He gave the names of the suspects as Idoko Omoru, Eze Emmanuel, Obande Emmanuel, Ameh Peter and Sunday.
Okoro added that policemen on Sunday foiled a kidnap attempt on an Enugu-bound bus on the Makurdi-Lafia Road and rescued all the passengers.
He listed items recovered from the suspects to include one locally-fabricated AK47 rifle with 10 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, two single barrel riffles, one locally-made barrette pistol loaded with three rounds of .9mm live ammunition and two military uniforms.
Narrating his ordeal, the rescued medical doctor said that he was kidnapped alongside his driver while they were on their way to Taraba State.
He said the abductors demanded N40m and when he offered N5m, one of them used his gun to hit his head.
“By 4am today, we started hearing gunshots and some people asked ‘Where is Dr Etito?’ Then, I knew it was the police and that was how they rescued us and we trekked over 10km. After all the beating, I was almost giving up. They were almost killing us.
“A policeman had to carry me on his back. I rate Nigeria Police highly. When they want to do their work, they will do it. When we got to that place, we concluded that no policeman or soldier can come to that place. We were shocked to see policemen this morning. They shot one of them and they were the ones that identified and carried me,” he said.
