Abia Police Rescue Kidnapped Driver, Recover Stolen Car

Operatives of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) attached to the Abia State Police Command has reportedly rescued a kidnapped victim identified as Mr. Michael Kingsley.

Mr. Kingsley who was later known to be a driver of a Port Harcourt based company was said to have been kidnapped at gunpoint, shortly after crossing the boundary between Abia State and Rivers State on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.

Information has it that a member of the kidnapping gang was arrested in a cross-fire between the SARS operatives and the gang members as the gang opened fire on sighting the policemen who were tracking them in the bush where they reportedly kept their victim.

The company’s Ford Expedition SUV was said to have been recovered by the Obehie Police Division at Uzuaku community in Ukwa West Local Government Area some hours after the kidnapping incident.

A source from the car company where Kingsley works told our reporter that he (Kingsley) was heading to Enugu State on official duty before the ugly incident.

According to the source “the driver was on his way to Enugu State on official duty the night the incident happened.

“From what he (Kingsley) told us, when he approached the boundary between Abia and Rivers popularly known as toll gate, he said that some men wearing red beret flashed torch and on thinking that they were police officers, he stopped the car. Acting on impulse he asked to know them, but they insisted that he should open his boot and when he hesitated, they pointed a gun at him and moved him into the nearby bush where they later blindfolded him and moved him to an unknown destination where they made several calls to his boss, threatening to kill him if they didn’t comply with their N10m ransom demand.

“They later came down to five hundred thousand (N500, 000) ransom before police swoop on them.”

A senior police source in Abia State Police Command who confirmed the release of Kingsley and recovery of the Ford SUV said that the SARS operatives led by its Commander, Johnbull Obioguru, acting on intelligence, swung into action which led to the rescue of the driver and the arrest of one of the kidnap gang members who is currently in police custody.

The senior police officer told our reporter that the driver is receiving medical attention in a cottage hospital as he sustained several injuries in the hands of abductors, stating that the suspect(s) would be arraigned before a competent court as soon as investigation into the matter was concluded.