Police officers in Kaduna State have rescued three people who were kidnapped by bandits Ikara Local Government Area of the state.
The officers also recovered firearms and ammunitions as well as vehicles and motorcycles used by the bandits for their operations.
In a statement by the spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, DSP Mohammed Jalige, one of the rescued victims, Yusuf Abdullahi Abubakar of Dorayi village in Kano State was kidnapped on September 4th at Barde village in Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna State, after which the abductors demanded the sum of fifty million naira ransom.
The victim was later rescued by a police patrol team on September 9th, along Ikara- Tashan Yari road after the police officers intercepted bandits in a motorcycle conveying the three persons.
During the process, they promptly caught up with the motorcyclists after which two of the riders, on sensing police pursuit, jumped off the motorcycle and fled into the bush, while the remaining passenger was later discovered to be Yusuf Abdullahi Abubakar, the kidnapped victim.
The officers, upon search of the motorcycle, recovered a concealed AK-47 rifle loaded with ten (10) rounds of live 7.62 X 39mm ammunition.
In a related operation on the same 9th September 2022, police officers of the Hunkuyi Division while on aggressive patrol along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, rescued two women kidnapped by bandits from Kano state and taken to Kaduna.
They had intercepted a suspicious Ford Mini Bus with Reg No. ZAR 532 XR belonging to the bandits, and the occupants rather than heed the police order to halt for search, engaged the officers in a gun duel. The officers responded gallantly and in the ensuing melee, the hoodlums fled with varying bullet wounds leaving behind two female occupants of the vehicle who were rescued.
Upon search of the vehicle, an AK-47 Magazine loaded with thirty (30) rounds of live 7.62 × 39mm ammunition was recovered.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the two female occupants, identified as Hafiza Haruna and Amina Haruna, are the wives of one Alhaji Haruna of Kwanan Dangora, Kano State who were earlier kidnapped by the hoodlums.