The Delta State Police Command has arrested six suspected kidnappers and recovered over N2.3 million in ransom money paid by their victims.
CP Abaniwanda Olufemi, Delta State’s Commissioner of Police, revealed this on Thursday while paraded 16 individuals accused of various offences.
Olufemi stated that the command, under his direction, has made substantial progress during the review period, with plans to improve police presence and target dark spots and criminal hideouts across the 25 local government areas.
“Acting on credible intelligence, operatives from the Ebrumede Division, while on patrol, intercepted a tricycle carrying six passengers.
“Upon sighting the police, the suspects attempted to escape, but the operatives pursued and arrested them. A search revealed N2,344,000 in ransom money and some suspected stolen phones.
“Further investigation revealed that the phones belonged to kidnapping victims, and the money was part of the ransom paid for their release.”
Olufemi also stated that the anti-kidnapping unit conducted a sting operation in the Umunede woodland region, where two people kidnapped on the Asaba-Benin Expressway were rescued.
He stated that the police acted based on legitimate information about the kidnapping. When the kidnappers saw the authorities were closing in, they abandoned their victims and escaped.
Olufemi, regretting the presence of hard drugs in the state, stated that while on stop-and-search duty along the Asaba-Agbor Expressway, the command’s Dragon Patrol squad stopped a 39-year-old man, Jammed Abdulahi Shola, driving a green Toyota vehicle.
He claimed that a search of the vehicle turned up 320 packs of codeine, 125 sachets of tramadol, and substantial amounts of other hard drugs.
