Efforts by security agencies in Abia to keep kidnappers and other criminal elements at bay yielded desired result in the early hours of Sunday, July 20, 2014 as a combined team of security agents destroyed a germinating kidnap gang, killing three members and freeing their victims unhurt.
It was gathered that the gang had last Thursday abducted the state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Chief Sunny Nwakodo, and was responsible for shooting of state Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Kenneth Nwosu, who later died of the gunshot wounds.
But the gang met its waterloo at about 1.00am on Sunday when a combined team of Army and Department of State Security Services (SSS) raided a bush at Umuariga village, Umudike in Ikwuano local government where the gang had kept the abducted NURTW chairman.
In the ensuing shootout, the security operatives gunned down three members of the criminal gang and rescued the NURTW boss without any harm. The slain members of the gang were identified as Ogbuonye Daniel Ogbonna, Uchegbu Oscar Ugochukwu and Oleka Damian Chibueze, while other gang members are still on the run. The security operatives recovered one AK 47 rifle, two magazines and 22 rounds of ammunition from the scene of the shooting encounter.
Though the police was not involved in the operation, the state police public relations officer (PPRO) Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna confirmed the successful operation against the criminals but could not give details of what transpired.
However, he lauded the sister security agencies for their successful rescue mission, describing it as a pointer to the security benefits that accrues to the state as a result of the synergy among the security agencies.
