Enugu command rescues ESUT students from kidnappers

Men of the Enugu State Police Command have rescued two students of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology from kidnappers’ den.

The students regained their freedom on Tuesday, eight days after they were kidnapped.

The kidnap victims, Afamefuna Akadieze, a third year student of the Department of Political Science, and Miracle Chukwuemeka, a second year student of Department of Sociology, were abducted  on February 17, around 7 pm, from their hostel opposite the school gate.

They had reportedly come downstairs from the two-storey hostel to buy sachet water when they were seized.

A source told our correspondent that the suspected kidnappers, numbering about four, pointed a gun at the victims and ordered them to get into a waiting taxi, from where they were taken to an unknown destination.

According to the victims, the suspected kidnappers also asked for their parents’ name and telephone numbers, with which they started calling them, demanding N20m ransom.

It was gathered that they later reduced the ransom to N10,000 with a threat that if the police were involved, they would kill the victims.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Enugu State, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the incident.

He said, “The case was reported to the state command and the Commissioner of Police, Adamu Abubakar, directed the anti-kidnapping unit to handle the matter.

“The  operation was carried out through information garnered from relevant quarters, leading to the arrest of one of the gang members, identified as Ngeneoke Chinugo, of Ituku village in Awgu Local Government Area.

“The suspect, a commercial motorcyclist at Ituku, disclosed how he conveyed one of the fleeing hoodlums to the forest, near Ufam stream in Ituku, where victims were held hostage.”

The police spokesman said the victims were rescued after “intensive confrontation,” adding that the hoodlums later escaped with injuries.

“A berretta pistol with some ammunition belonging to the hoodlums was also recovered.

“Ngeneoke is pleading for forgiveness. He said one of the hoodlums was a family member recently discharged from the prison, ” the PPRO said.