All the nine police officers reportedly abducted by gun men about 12 days ago in Katsina State have been rescued by their colleagues.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba; a Deputy Commissioner of Police, announced this, in a statement on Friday.
The officers were widely reported to have been missing on 8th November, 2020 between Kankara town and Sheme in Katsina State after the night commercial bus they were traveling in, came under attack by heavily armed men, all dressed in Military Camouflage, but suspected to be bandits.
The kidnapped officers were all Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs), on their way to Gusau in Zamfara State from Maiduguri at the time of the incident.
According to Mba, two of the officers were still receiving medical attention in an undisclosed hospital, while the remaining seven were being debriefed.
Covert operation to locate and rescue the officers commenced immediately they were discovered missing en-route to their destination. The police spokesman said the apparent delay in commenting on the unfortunate incident was a deliberate decision aimed at protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the rescue operation and the concomitant safety of the officers.
Said he: “It is also important to state that preliminary investigation has shown that the attack on the vehicle was an opportunistic crime as the officers were all traveling in mufti, unarmed and alongside other private citizens in the commercial vehicle. The total number of officers involved in the incident is nine (9) and not twelve (12) as previously, wrongly reported in some sections of the media” adding that follow-up investigation into the incident was still ongoing.
However, the Force Public Relations Officer could not say anything relating to the widely reported demand for millions of naira ransom by the abductors, neither did the statement clarify whether the abductors were eventually killed or arrested in the process of rescuing the nine officers.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, has reassured Nigerians that the Force was working assiduously to ensure an improved safety and tactical presence of police personnel on the country’s highways as the yuletide approaches.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/police-officers-kidnapped-by-gun-men-regain-freedom/
About The Author
