Kidnappers kill 2 policemen in Benin

Two police officers attached to the managing director of a popular Beninbased eatery (GT Plaza), have been killed by suspected kidnappers.

It was learnt that the officers were killed on Wednesday when suspected kidnappers attempted to kidnap the popular eatery’s Managing Director, Elder Fumer Omofuma, and were resisted by the deceased officers.

The police also disclosed that its operatives, in collaboration with a local vigilante group, arrested one suspected kidnapper, Yusuf Ismaila, 17-years, and rescued one Joseph Patrick, from the kidnappers in Ekpoma, Edo State.

Parading the suspect in Benin yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Chidi Nwanbuzor, said the suspect was arrested on July 8.

He said “The Divisional Police Officer, Ekpoma Division, Edo State received a report that one Joseph Patrick, 35-years-old, of Ozege Junction, Bore Hole Quarters, Ekpoma, was kidnapped by hoodlums/kidnappers of the fiveman gang on July 6, at Urohi forest Ekpoma.”

He said the police, in collaboration with the vigilante and the hunters immediately embarked on bush combing exercise.

According to him, the kidnappers, on sighting the police, engaged them in a gun battle, and in the process, one of the kidnappers was hit by a bullet and was arrested.

Nwanbuzor added that the suspect confessed that he belonged to a fiveman gang of kidnappers operating along Benin-Auchi Expressway and its environs.

He said an investigation is ongoing to apprehend the killers of police officers.

In an interview with journalists, the suspect said he was introduced to kidnapping business by one of his friends, Mohammed, who promised to give him money after the business.

"Mohammed called me to follow him, that he will give me money. After we kidnapped the victim, I tied his mouth with clothes and we took him to the bush. Mohammed told me to go and fetch water from the stream. As I was coming, I heard a gunshot and that was how I was arrested," he narrated.

The victim, Joseph Patrick, said he was driving through Ozege Junction in Ekpoma, when the five-man gang accosted him and took him to a bush where he spent three days before the police and vigilante group rescued him.

"They tied my hands, blindfolded, and took me to the bush, and they demanded N2 million from my family. It was my wife that went to the police, before the police and vigilante people rescued me," he said.