Police in Delta State have killed two supposed hostage takers and arrested eight suspected kidnappers, including three females in separate gun battles with two kidnap gangs at Ozoro in Isoko North Local Government Area and Onicha- Olona in Aniocha North Local Government Area of the state.
However, some youths attempted, yesterday, to raze the Ozoro Police Station, because of the killing of one of the suspected kidnappers, but police repelled the offensive and have tightened security in the town.
In the last 48 hours, police also made remarkable inroad in routing kidnappers from the state, as they recovered AK 47 and other dangerous weapons from kidnap gangs and rescued a secondary school principal and another victim.
Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, who confirmed the arrest of the suspects and the botched attempt to raze Ozoro Police Station, said: “I will not accept attack on my men or any police station for no cause.
“We have our information about the kidnap gang that kidnapped the wife of Professor Mokobia since last month and we traced the retreating kidnappers to their hideout, where they opened fire at my men and we returned fire for fire.”
On how police tracked down the kidnappers, he said: “I do not have to give you the details, but the truth is that the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N1.2 million. Unknown to them, we had been monitoring them and we had our counter plan. So we followed the ransom after they collected it to their base, which they cleverly hid for one month.
“Wife of one Professor Mokobia was kidnapped from their residence, off Umuebu Road, Obiaruku on April 9 by the kidnappers. Since then, they had kept her and we got information they were asking for N1.2 million ransom on that day.
“As soon as we confirmed that the ransom was in their possession, our team, which was acting on scientific information, moved in and trailed them to a den at Uremu Road, Ozoro and on sighting my men, they opened fire.
“During the exchange of gunfire, one Vote Michael was hit and three females, one Esther, Jennifer and Oreve who were in possession of the ransom money were arrested, while two others escaped with bullet wounds.”
A source said the injured kidnapper, who later died, was among those that took refuge in the ceiling during their encounter with the police.
However, the kingpin of the gang was among the two that escaped with bullet wounds and N900,000 was recovered out of the N1.2 ransom collected by his gang.
While police rescued two kidnap victims from the Onicha -Olona kidnap den, the whereabouts of Mrs. Mokobia remained unknown yesterday, as she was not in the den where the kidnappers confronted the police.
The Commissioner disclosed that police trailed the gang, which abducted one Josephine Ezebuife, a school principal at Ogwashi-Uku to their den in the community and in an ensuing gun duel, one of the suspected kidnappers suffered fatal gunshots, while five others, including a female were arrested.
He said Ezebuife and another kidnap victim, Monica Patricia reportedly gagged hand and feet were rescued by the police after a shootout. According to him, “We are working round the clock to rescue the professor’s wife.”