Four suspected kidnappers were at the weekend killed by men of the Rivers State police in Oyigbo local government area of? the? state.
The State commissioner of police, Mr.Suleiman Abba, while displaying the bodies of the suspected kidnappers to Journalists in Oyigbo said the hoodlums , who are believed to be members of the notorious Osisi Kankwu gang, engaged the police in a gun battle? in an attempt to resist arrest .
“The command has succeeded in busting very notorious gang of kidnappers, four of them as you see were fatally wounded. These are notorious gangs who are not just associated to the late Osisi Kankwu. They have continued in his own ways to harass, intimidate and kidnap the citizens of Rivers State on a tip off, we were able to identify their hide out and in an effort to arrest them, they opened fire on the police and the result is what you see there,” Abba said.
The killing of the four suspected kidnappers is coming at a time the State Governor, Mr.Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has resolved to deploy the Army to the streets of Port Harcourt and other parts of the state to fight the upsurge in armed robbery and kidnapping.
The Governor? stated this at a thanksgiving service organised in his honour and that of the Supreme Court Justice, Mary Odili by the Catholic Diocese of Port Harcourt at the Corpus Christi Cathedral Church in Port Harcourt at the weekend.
“If we could fight the militants, why can’t we fight armed robbers? We will put the Army on the streets until the armed robbers will run away.
“We are tired of pleading with armed robbers to return their guns to the Police. We will put the Army on the streets because we believe that the Police needs support. I will plead with those whose children are robbers to tell their children to stop armed robbery.