POLICE authorities in Delta State say they have a man who they accuse of pretending to represent a kidnapping
suspect in custody.
According to police spokesman Lucky Uyamebe, the man was arrested on Wednesday after a tip-off by unnamed persons during proceedings at the High Court in Warri.
Mr. Uyamebe said that the suspect ,who claimed to have an office in Benin, had confessed to the crime, adding that he was only striving to earn a living. “Information reaching us also revealed that the fake lawyer had duped the family of the suspected kidnapper of the sum of N280,000 and other items,’’ Uyabeme said.
He also said the police in Warri on Thursday arrested four suspected armed robbers and recovered a stolen Toyota Carina car with registration No GP 120 WER and a female hand bag containing cash and other valuables. Meanwhile, he said that some armed bandits on Wednesday attacked and inflicted machete cuts on the head of a police officer on duty at the Bridge Head Division in Asaba.
He said the bandits disarmed the officer on duty and collected his service rifle and 17 rounds of ammunition. He said that the police acted swiftly by detaching a patrol team who combed the area and recovered the rifle and the ammunition after a gun duel, which left two of the assailants fatally injured. Uyabeme also said the police in Asaba on Thursday rescued two female kidnap victims, one of them a school principal at Ogwashi-Uku, and arrested five kidnap suspects in connection with the crime.
He said that the principal was kidnapped on May 5 at Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area, and was taken to their hideout in Onicha Olona in Aniocha North Local Government Area. “In the course of the rescue operation and gun duel, one of the suspected kidnappers suffered fatal gunshot while five others, including a female suspect, were arrested at the gang’s operational base at Onicha Olona,’’ he said.