The Delta State Police Command has arrested six suspected kidnappers and recovered over N2.3 million paid as ransom by victims of the kidnap operation.
CP Abaniwanda Olufemi, Commissioner of Police, Delta State, stated this onThursday, September 5, 2024, while parading 16 suspects apprehended for various crimes carried out in the state.
The Commissioner noted that the command, under his watch, has achieved significant successes, with plans to increase police visibility and raid black spots and criminal hideouts across the 25 local government areas of the state.
In his statement the Commissioner said, “Acting on credible intelligence, operatives from the Ebrumede Division, while on patrol, intercepted a tricycle carrying six passengers.
He also added that the suspects, upon sighting the police attempted to escape but were intercepted by the gallant police officers of the Delta State Command of the Nigeria Police Force.
“Upon sighting the police, the suspects attempted to escape, but the operatives pursued and arrested them. A search revealed N2,344,000 in ransom money and some suspected stolen phones" he said.
The Commissioner also revealed that upon investigation the money recovered from the suspects, were part of the ransom they collected from their victims.
“Further investigation revealed that the phones belonged to kidnap victims, and the money was part of the ransom paid for their release”, he said.
Olufemi also explained that the anti-kidnapping squad led a sting operation in the Umunede forest area, where two people kidnapped along the Asaba-Benin Expressway were rescued and reunited with their families.
The Commissioner added that the police acted on sufficient and credible information regarding the kidnapping, and also, when the kidnappers realized the police were closing in on them, they abandoned the victims and fled.
While lamenting the wide usage of hard drugs in the state, he noted that while on stop-and-search duty along the Asaba-Agbor Expressway, the command’s Dragon Patrol team intercepted a 39-year-old man, Jammed Abdulahi Shola, driving a green Toyota vehicle.
He also revealed that a vigorous search of the vehicle uncovered 320 packs of codeine, 125 sachets of tramadol, and other kinds of hard drugs were also recovered by men of the police force in large quantity.
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