Operatives of the Ezinze Division of the Enugu state police command have rescued victims allegedly kidnapped by suspected gunmen along Eke-Ebe Road in Udi Local Government Area.

The state’s police public relations officer, Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed this in a statement shared on the command’s official X handle on Wednesday. 

According to the statement, the victims, who were kidnapped at about 4:45 p.m. on March 31, 2024, were rescued later in the day at about 6:15 p.m. the same day by the police alongside the neighbourhood watch group after a fierce gun duel with the criminals, who abandoned the victims and fled.

“Enugu State Police Command’s operatives serving in Ezinze Police Division, complemented by the Neighbourhood Watch Group, on March 31, 2024, at about 6:15 p.m., rescued victims alleged to have earlier been kidnapped on the same date, at about 4:55 p.m., along Eke/Ebe Road in Udi Local Government Area, after a fierce gun battle with the abductors, who abandoned the victims and fled,” it read.

The command said its rescue operation was in swift response to information it received about the attack on the victims, who were plying the road in two Mercedes Benz 4Matic jeeps, and were later abducted into the forest, adding that “further operations to hunt down the abductors are ongoing.”

The police spokesperson, however, said the state Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, “condemned the viral video, alleging that another police team that further responded to the incident, but without clear knowledge of the location of the first responding team, refused to go into the forest to rescue the same victims. 
“This is even when the operatives had only arrived at the scene and were awaiting necessary intelligence guidance before proceeding into the forest to avoid any form of collateral damage.”

Describing the allegations in the viral video as an act of mischief aimed at maligning and detracting the police from purging the state of criminals and their activities, the commissioner reiterated the command’s resolve to rid the state of unrepentant criminals and their activities despite the mischievous detraction.