Hunters arrest six kidnappers, rescue 19 victims in Kogi
Hunters Group of Nigeria (HGN) , Kogi State Chapter on Sunday arrested six kidnappers and rescued 19 abducted victims at kabba junction in Adavi Local government area of Kogi State.
The Chairman of the group, Mr Inusa Bature, who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen on Sunday said the suspects were linked to the recent Kidnapping in the area.
According to hom “We got the information that some travellers were kidnapped, we mobilised to the identified location where the hoodlums had contact and we engaged them in fire battle.
“During the encounter, we overwhelmed the bandits and shot one of them, while others took to their heels. We later arrested six out of twelve kidnappers and we are confident that the remaining six would be arrested soon”.
Mr Magaji Francis one if the victims while narrating his ordeal , said they were traveling to Adamawa from Lagos on reaching kabba junction, their vehicle was stopped by kidnappers and four of them were kidnapped.
“They selected four of us while they freed the driver and some passengers, they ceased our phones after they communicated with our families and demanded for ₦50 million ransom” he said.
He stated that the kidnappers were Fulanis and they beat them with Cutlass, starve them, tight them and threatened to kill them if their relations failed to pay the ransom.
“We thank Hunters Group of Nigeria for saving our lives, it’s them that God used to rescue us, we are grateful” he said.
Another victim who spent three days in the hands of kidnappers Akangi Saidu, narrated that “we are traveling to Lagos from Adamawa, we were kidnapped at about 3 am along Lokoja- Okene road, they collected our money and phones.”
One of the Kidnappers who confess said “Am from Zaria in Kaduna state, while two others are from Katsina state, we were invited by Oga and Yellow to take part in a Kidnapping operation along Lokoja – Okene highway
“We are twelve in number that kidnapped our victims and collected₦1.5 million before we were arrested by the hunters.
The Chairman of Adavi Local Council , Joseph Salami, who visited some of the victims at Alheri hospital kabba junction, described the situations as pathetic.
Salami commended the hunters and other security agencies for their efforts toward curbing crime in the area.
Items recovered from the suspects are two toy local guns, army uniforms and Eight mobile phones and some charms.