Police in Rivers gun down most wanted kidnappers, rescue abducted victims

Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have gunned down two notorious kidnap kingpins who were on the most wanted list of the command.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the development in a statement in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, said anti-kidnapping officers had engaged the criminals in a gun battle in a forest in Emuoha Local Government Area of the state and succeeded in killing two of them including the gang leader, identified as Sunday Amadi, alias ‘Occasion’, who had a N2 million bounty placed on his head by the police.

Iringe-Koko added that during the operation, four victims who had been abducted by the gang were rescued after the operatives subdued the hoodlums during the exchange of gun fire.

“In the early hours of Wednesday, December 14, 2023, gunshots rang out as four blindfolded men scrambled in confusion,” the police statement said.

“When the gunshots ceased, the four men were eased off their blindfolds and realised that they had been rescued by the police from an ordeal in which they had lost hope after spending 48 hours in the den of a notorious kidnap kingpin.

“The policemen, while searching for the victims, discovered the camp of the kidnappers on the third day.

“They proceeded to conduct prompt but thorough surveillance to eliminate the incidence of collateral damage before engaging the criminals.

“In the confrontation that ensued, two of the kidnappers were killed, including the leader of the gang, Sunday Amadi, aka ‘Occasion’, who had had a N2 million bounty on him by the Chairman of Emohua LGA.

She added that the state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, has commended the men of the command for their professionalism and persistence in fighting crime and criminality and vowed that the Command under his watch would stop at nothing to rid the state of criminal elements.

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