Police rescue 63-year-old kidnapped woman, arrest suspect
By Dave Okpogadie, Asaba
The Delta State Police Command has rescued a 63-year-old woman from her abductors after spending days in captivity.
According to the police, acting on information received from a motorcyclist that a lady (name withheld) was seen with two boys armed with machetes in an isolated area along Irri-Aviara community road and suspected them to be kidnappers.
In a swift reaction, the DPO Oleh Division, SP Paul Oboware, mobilised and led Police patrol teams in a combined effort with Irri vigilante and cordoned off the surrounding bushes.
The hoodlums, on sighting the police, reportedly abandoned the victim and escaped into the bush.
Investigations later revealed that the victim was kidnapped four days earlier at Olori road in Ughelli on her way home.
The Police spread their dragnet as Police operatives and vigilante group were strategically deployed for the purpose of getting useful information with a view to seeing that these hoodlums were arrested and brought to book.
Consequently, it paid off on Thursday, December 2 at about 9:45 P.M when the police were alerted by the vigilante deployed around Irri round-about Oleh that some hoodlums were sighted near the roundabout and operating in a white Toyota Hilux without registration number.
It was gathered that the hoodlums were plotting to kidnap one man (name withheld) who recently returned from Europe and disagreement ensued among the hoodlums which made residents of the area, who became suspicious, to alert the vigilante.
The DPO Oleh again led a combined team of Police operatives and vigilante to the area in a carefully planned operation which led to the arrest of one of the suspects, 26-year-old Davidson Odigho.
It was, however, gathered that other members of the gang escaped in the white hilux.
Upon interrogation, the suspect allegedly confessed to being a part of the gang that kidnapped the 63-year-old woman on November 30 and abandoned her when they noticed that the police were closing in on them.
The suspect later led police operatives to his house where one AK-47 rifle, nineteen (19) rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, one magazine, one pump action gun and twenty-six (26) live cartridges concealed in a sack bag and buried in the compound were recovered.
Manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang is ongoing according to the police.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Ari Mohammed Ali, has appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders in the fight against crimes and criminality in the state.
Ali equally admonished the residents and citizens to be law abiding while urging them to always provide credible information to the police for a safer Delta state.
