The Delta State Police Command has rescued a woman abducted by armed men in Sapele and arrested eight suspects during a separate operation in Abraka, recovering three locally made pistols and suspected illicit drugs.
The Command disclosed this in a statement on Friday by its Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, saying the operations formed part of ongoing efforts to tackle kidnapping, violent crime and other criminal activities across the state.
According to the statement, the woman was abducted at about 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 2, after armed men ambushed her at the entrance of her residence along Eko Amukpe Road, Sapele.
The suspects reportedly fired several shots into the air before taking the woman into a nearby bush.
Upon receiving the distress report, the Divisional Police Officer, Sapele Division, immediately mobilised patrol and surveillance teams to the area. Expended AK-47 ammunition shells were subsequently recovered at the scene.
The police, with support from local vigilantes, launched a search of the surrounding bushes which continued throughout the night and into the morning of Thursday, September 3.
The sustained pressure on the kidnappers eventually forced them to abandon the victim and flee, according to the Command.
The woman was later found and rescued unharmed before being reunited with her family.
The Command said it had intensified efforts to track down and arrest the fleeing kidnappers.
In a separate operation in Abraka, operatives of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), acting on intelligence, raided suspected criminal hideouts following an ongoing investigation into an attempted murder reported on September 3.
The operation resulted in the arrest of eight suspects identified as Evans Adamda, Mamatime Micheal, Wale Morakinya, Anabono, Godspower, Theophilus Philip, Robinson Oghenewiro and Inoni Ejiroghene.
The police said three locally made pistols, Tramadol and other suspected illicit drugs were recovered during the operation.
The suspects and recovered exhibits remain in police custody as investigation continues to determine their individual involvement in the reported attempted murder and other criminal activities in the area.
The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Samuel E. Erale, commended the police operatives and local vigilantes for the breakthroughs.
Erale reiterated the Command’s determination to sustain intelligence-led operations against kidnappers, cultists and other criminal elements across Delta State.
He said the police would continue to identify criminal hideouts, apprehend offenders and recover illicit weapons, while urging residents to provide timely and credible information that could assist security agencies in preventing and tackling crime.
