The Police serving at the Iwollo Divisional Headquarters, in synergy with the Neighborhood Watch personnel and Forest Guards, at about 10am Saturday, December 24, 2022, rescued in the Ajalli River forest, near Akama-Oghe in Ezeagu Local Government Area, three males and a female victim, reported to have been kidnapped along 9th-Mile/Eke/Akama-Oghe Road, the previous day at about 8pm.

This was contained in a Press Statement made available to News Center by DSP Daniel Ndukwe, Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Command,
State Headquarters, G.R.A., Enugu.

According to the statement “Police also recovered a black-coloured Mercedes Benz car belonging to one of the victims, while all the victims have been debriefed and reunited with their families.

“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, ordered Tactical Operatives of the Command to sustain on-going manhunt of the kidnapping suspects, who abandoned the victims and escaped due to the intense pressure mounted by the Operatives to rescue the victims and apprehend them”.

In spite of Army check-point along the Akama-Eke axis of the road, kidnapping have not abated along that stretch of the 9th Mile-Oghe-Iwollo-Olo highway.

Arrested armed kidnappers, most of who have been identified as Fulani, and also engaged in cattle herding and allied businesses around the 9th Mile axis, but most of them were released immediately upon their arrest, fuelling speculation that the Military and Police top hierarchies are fuelling insecurity in the South-East and other parts of the country.

This year’s Christmas season, however, appears to be the most peaceful in recent years compared to the number of kidnappings reported.