The Rivers State Police Command has arrested two suspected kidnappers, whose kidnapping syndicate has been terrorising the residents of Etche Local Government Area of the state.

Grace Iringe-Koko, police spokesperson in the state, said the police also recovered the sum of N2,383,000 from the suspects who were arrested following intelligence-led operations by operatives of the anti-cultism unit (ACU), Emohua annexe.

She disclosed that the suspects: Abdullahi Ibrahim, 23, from Avara LGA of Nasarawa, and Mohammed Hashim, 27, from Tafawa Balewa LGA of Bauchi State, had abducted a female victim and three others at Elele Waterside on January 19.

She added that the gang’s activities had claimed the life of a youth in the community who attempted to deliver a ransom of N3.8 million on January 13.l, noting that they were intercepted along the Ozuzu/Apara link road in Etche council area on January 22 at about 8:49 pm.

“Upon search, the sum of N2,383,000, suspected to be part of the ransom paid by the victims’ families, was recovered from them,” she said.

Upon interrogation, the police spokesperson said the suspects admitted their involvement in the crime and confessed to participating in several kidnapping incidents, including the abduction of two other female victims in the Akpoku community on January 8.

Iringe-Koko said the suspects later led operatives to their hideouts, where police encountered resistance from other gang members, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.

She, however, said that the suspects sustained fatal injuries during the operation, while other members of the gang escaped into nearby bushes with gunshot wounds.

“The command is intensifying efforts to apprehend other fleeing members of the gang and recover their weapons,” she said.