Five suspected kidnappers were shot dead yesterday by the police in Edo state during a gun duel with the suspects.
This comes as the Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Funso Adebanjo raised an alarm that armed bandits and kidnappers are succeeding in Nigeria because Nigerians are not giving useful information to the police.
Saturday Vanguard learnt that the kidnappers who abducted a female victim and took her to a forest at Oluku along the Benin-Akure road, met their waterloo when detectives stormed the area at the early hours of yesterday.
The notorious kidnappers were said to have laid ambush for the detectives who stormed the area with a decoy vehicle and a Volkswagen Santana car. They rained bullets at the police officers who eventually took cover and responded abruptly. The names of the suspects were given as Smart Uche, Jerry M, Osarumwen Ekibise, Lucky Ekhator and Osai Friday.
Other suspects were said to have escaped into the forest with bullet wounds while the police continued combing the forest. According to Commissioner Adebanjo, “while combing the forest, we recovered one Pump Action gun, forty three cartridges, double barrel gun, one black Range Rover jeep with registration number BDG 335 BD snatched from their victim.
“Presently, operatives of the command have embarked on cordon and searching of the forest for the eventual arrest of other notorious members who fled with bullet wounds”. CP Balogun who stressed the need for members of the public to give the police information, asserted that “we cannot fight crime successfully without information. Nigerians must stop this habit of thinking that the police alone can provide security for you.
“These criminals are succeeding because we don’t give information about them and that is the problem we have in Nigeria. We may have all the equipment in the world to fight crime but if you don’t give the police useful information, nothing will change” he stated.
