The Police Command in Edo said it rescued seven kidnap victims and killed three suspected kidnappers during an operation in Ahor community.
This is contained in a statement in Benin on Monday by SP Kontongs Bello, the command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO).
Bello disclosed that in continuation of the forest and bush combing promised by CP Phillip Ogbadu, the Commissioner for Police in Edo, the tactical team of the command and the local vigilante achieved this feat.
He said with the seven rescued victims, and the 13 rescued last Saturday, the total number of victims rescued between Saturday and Monday were now 20.
He explained that the combined team encountered the suspected kidnappers at the Ahor axis of the Benin-Lagos bypass and engaged them in a fierce gun battle, where three of the suspected kidnappers were killed.
The PPRO reiterated that the CP had promised to sustain the tempo and would not relent until the state was rid of kidnappers.
He said the CP also sought the collaboration and partnership of stakeholders through information sharing, particularly from those around Ahor community and environs.
Meanwhile, the Abia Police Command says it has commenced full investigation into Sunday’s fire at the Ohafia office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Godfrey Ogbonna, in Umuahia on Monday that available information showed that the attack was carried out by miscreants.
Ogbonna said the assailants attacked the facility at about 10pm on Sunday.
“The people in the neighbourhood said the attack was carried out by unknown miscreants. There was no casualty because security men guarding the office ran into the 14 Army Brigade barracks for safety, when the attackers arrived at the place,” he said.
The PPRO said the miscreants were however repelled through the combined efforts of the police and army.
It was learnt that the attackers razed down the office building together with the electronic gadgets, official documents and office furniture.
Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, stated that the burnt facility was recently renovated.
Okoye said the commission would convene an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to discuss the attacks on its offices in some parts of the country.
