Farmers flee kidnappers’ den as gang scouts for victims

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni

Five of the seven victims abducted at a farm in Igbodu community, Epe, Lagos State, have reportedly regained freedom.

This is just as the kidnappers and operatives of the state police command patrolling the area engaged in a gun duel.

Five farmers and two members of the Oodua People’s Congress were seized by the assailants last Tuesday. They had demanded N5m ransom.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the farmers fled the kidnappers’ den in the early hours of Tuesday when the gang returned to the farm to abduct more victims.

It was learnt that the kidnappers, while on the farm, sighted operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the command in a patrol van and opened fire on them. Although none of the policemen was reportedly injured, the van was riddled with bullets.

“The kidnappers had left their camp in search of more victims. The abductees exploited their absence to flee. The two others are still in the camp,” a police source said.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said, “There was a gun battle and the kidnappers were repelled by the police. Some kidnapped victims were also rescued. All my men are intact; no one was injured.”

Credit: Punch