Police arrest kidnapper and rescue the victim, a hotelier in Rivers, whose family paid N25m ransom

Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt

The Rivers State Police Command says it has arrested one kidnapper (name withheld) who abducted a popular hotelier in the state, held him captive despite receiving N25m for ransom.

Briefing Journalists at the Command’s headquarters on Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police in the State, CP Olatunji Disu said the hotelier was abducted December 19, 2023 from his residence in Port Harcourt.

CP Disu revealed that the family of the victim after reported the incident to the police, after the abductors of her husband refused to release him even after receiving the sum of N25m as ransom.

The CP further disclosed that the hoodlums during the process of kidnapping, shot the victim on the leg thrice before dragging him away.

Disu said, “This victim was kidnapped on the 19th of December in his residence by these hoodlums.

“The victim in this incident is a popular hotelier in town, these hoodlums shot him three times in the leg before he was abducted.

“The family did not tell the police or any other security agencies, they decided to pay the ransom that was demanded by the kidnappers. A total sum of about N25 million in dollars was paid to the kidnappers, but they refused to release the victim.

“It was at this stage that the wife of the victim decided to inform the police on the 30th of December and then the Police, the C4I intelligence, started work on the case immediately.”

The CP noted that the command upon receipt of the crime from the victim’s wife, drafted officers and men of the command to trail the kidnappers to their hideout and arrest them.

Disu revealed that the Police around 7am on Monday, raided the camp of the kidnappers and rescued the injured victim.

“At a particular time, towards the end of December, early this month (January), our officers had an encounter with them (kidnappers), but the kidnappers escaped, noticing that the officers of the command has noticed the kind of vehicle and the colour, they decided to take their two operational vehicles to the panel beater for the colours to be changed.

“The colours of the vehicle have been changed and we have recovered the two vehicles. Yesterday night, on discovering where the victim was kept, we decided to embark on a rescue operation of the victims today.

“So today at about 700hours, Officers of the command went to their abode in Agbochia forest where the victim has been kept since then.”

The state Police boss further disclosed the rescued victim had been admitted to a health facility where he’s currently receiving treatment, adding that operatives during the operation recovered one AK 47 rifle with two magazines and 44 live ammunition, including two Lexus SUVS, the kidnappers were using to carry out their operations.

The CP vowed to track down other fleeing members of the kidnapping syndicate and ensure they face the law.

“The operation was embarked upon, it was successful, the victim was rescued alive and one of the kidnappers while exchanging gunfire with our officers got injured and is undergoing treatment as well.

“The victim has been taken to the hospital,and is undergoing treatment at the moment and we recovered one AK 47 rifle from the kidnappers, two magazines loaded with 44 rounds of live ammunition and the two operational vehicles used to torment members of the public.

“The vehicles are one RX 350 and RX 330 Lexus. The peculiar thing about these kidnappers is that they collect their ransom food flasks, they demand their ransom in dollars and they would ask you to put it in food flasks.

“So this has been the end of this story, those who escaped, we know how to get them and very soon they would be arrested and they would be brought to face the law.”