Thirteen kidnap victims have been rescued from a kidnapper’s den in the notorious Ahor axis of Benin bypass road, in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo State.

The rescue operation which took place on Saturday was carried out by a combined team of men and officers of the State Police Command, local hunters and members of the Edo State Vigilante Security Network.

The State Commissioner of Police, Philip Ogbadu, while addressing journalists after the operation, said the Command deployed drones and were assisted by hunters and members of the Vigilante Security Network, set up by the state government.

He disclosed that the rescued victims have been taken to Magnus Eweka Police Cottage Hospital for thorough medical examinations before they would be handed over to the state government to assist them to proceed to their destinations.

According to him, “We used information provided to track the kidnappers. We took the courage to enter the forest. This is how we would proceed with the operations going forward.”

Ogbadu, who reassured that the Command would not relent in its quest to rid the state of kidnappers, added that the security operatives would henceforth carry out regular patrols and mount checkpoints along the road.

He, however, urged residents in communities along Ahor-Auchi road to provide relevant information about the activities of kidnappers to the authorities.

“We are going to carry out general combing of the area so that we can identify their camps.

“So far, we have identified up to 7 camps and we will make these camps visiting points so that they will not be able to come back.

“We are going to seek more information from these communities as these kidnappers come to the road to buy food and they interact with the people,” he said.

On his part, the Coordinator of the Edo State Community Vigilante Security Network, Mr Yusuf Haruna, said the success of the operation was a testament to what the state government was doing with the new security architecture in identifying and understanding behaviours of crime and criminality in the state.

“Crime is local, so we localised our architecture. We have chased the criminal elements away from the city to the suburbs and we are taking the war to them in the suburbs as well,” he added.

The Delta State Police Command has arrested two men for allegedly beating a man to death over N3000 and phone theft.

Spokesperson of the command, DSP Bright Edafe, who disclosed this in a statement on Friday, May 7, said the suspects, Efe Lucky and Ramson Akpojibu, were arrested in Warri.

Edafe said the suspects confessed that they, along with three other persons beat the victim identified simply as Christian, to death over allegation of stealing their three thousand naira (N3,000.00) and phones.

“On the 3/5/2021 at about 1430hrs, information was received from a distress call that a good Samaritan reported that one Efe Lucky and Ramson Akpojibu both ‘m’ of Ughoton community Okpe LGA brought a patient Christian ‘m’ Surname unknown, to Moving Star Clinic Warri, as soon he was certified dead,” he stated.

“The duo with bloodstains on their clothes was about to abscond. The DPO Orerokpe Division deployed a detective to the clinic, the corpse was viewed and signs of violence were seen on the body of the deceased. The corpse was photographed and deposited at Orerokpe General Hospital mortuary.

“The police arrested the two suspects Efe Lucky ‘m’ and Ramson Akpojibu ‘m’, and the premises of the suspects were searched, blood stained cutlass, hammer and blood soaked towel were recovered.

“They confessed that they were five in number the beat up the deceased to death over allegation of stealing their three thousand naira (N3,000.00) and phones. Effort is on to arrest the three other suspects.”

The spokesperson said that the State Police Commissioner has ordered that the case be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.