Police Rescue Two Kidnapped Victims in Ikorodu Forest

Rebecca  Ejifoma

Operatives of the Lagos Police Command have rescued two kidnapped victims, names withheld, from the Isiwu Forest near Imota in the Ikorodu area of the state. 

According to the police, they were rescued in the wee hours of Wednesday at Isiwu Forest, near Imota after six gunmen abducted them on their farm on March 26. 

The gunmen were said to have come in a boat and taken them to the kidnappers’ makeshift den in the forest.

Acting on information that the kidnappers were set to collect ransom from the owner of the farm at 11:30p.m. operatives ambushed two of the kidnappers. 

The suspects were said to have engaged the police in a gun duel. While one of the suspects was gravely wounded, the other was said to have escaped.

The victims, who worked as a manager and a driver on the farm, told journalists that the attackers demanded details of the farm’s strong room where the owner kept the money.

One of them said, “I told them I knew nothing about it, as I was new on the farm; I only started working there in December. 

“They took us into the forest and beat us thoroughly. The one they beat more was the driver because he told them he didn’t have any money in his account. They were using cutlasses to flog us.”

According to the manager, he transferred N55,000 from his account to them. “Then, they called the owner of the farm and demanded N30m. He told them he didn’t have it. They later reduced the money to N10m but he told them all he could get was N3m.

“We spent 10 days in the forest. They fed us soaked garri (cassava flakes) and bushmeat. It was a wooden house built inside the forest. We were lying on the floor and were warned not to look them in the face. They blindfolded us the day after we got there.

“So, on the ninth day in the forest, they sent two of the kidnappers to go and collect the ransom from the agreed spot.”

While in the bush, the manager said they heard gunshots. “The remaining four kidnappees fled in their boat. They told us to find our way but since it was night, we didn’t know which way to go.”

Meanwhile, the State Police Spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the fatally injured kidnapper was taken to the hospital but was confirmed dead.

He said the operatives recovered a locally made rifle, four live cartridges and three mobile phones, two of which belong to the kidnappers.

He said efforts were underway to arrest the fleeing suspects. “Our preparation paid off. There was a gun duel when one of the kidnappers was hit. He was injured, and was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.”