The police command in Delta has rescued two kidnapped victims in Oghara, Ethiope West Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

The command spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, told journalists on Sunday in Warri that the police had launched a manhunt for fleeing suspects.

Mr Edafe said the victims were rescued on Thursday by the combined team of police operatives attached to the Oghara Police Division, the anti-cult unit, the SIB unit, and local vigilante groups.

He said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Oghara Division, CSP Olasunkanmi Musiliu, received a distress call on Wednesday that two persons had been kidnapped at Oghara-Ugbenu link road.

“The DPO, while acting on credible and technically generated information, led a combined team of police operatives, an anti-cult unit, the SIB unit, and the local vigilante groups into the Oghara-Ugbenu forest.

“On August 31, at about 11:30 a.m., the operatives relentlessly combed the forest, which forced the kidnappers to abandon the victims and escape,” said Mr Edafe. 

He added, “The kidnapped victims were rescued unhurt.”

Mr Edafe said the victims had since been reunited with their families, adding that four live cartridges, one cell phone, an ATM card, and three Telecommunication SIM cards were recovered from the scene.

“Regardless of the victims’ rescue, efforts are on top gear to apprehend the fleeing suspects,” he said.

Mr Edafe said the Commissioner of Police (CP), Delta Command, Wale Abass, had reiterated the command’s readiness to provide adequate security, particularly during “ember” months.

He said the CP had appealed to the general public to be security conscious and reassured them that effective measures had been put in place to curb crime in the state.

(NAN)