The popular axiom that “who the gods want to kill will first make mad” can be said to have taken place in Imo State recently when suspected kidnappers met their waterloo in the hands of combat-ready policemen.
For daring to kidnap a Reverend Father of the Catholic Church, a gang of kidnappers have had their illicit act cut short. Addressing newsmen in Owerri, the State Commissioner of Police, Adisa Bolanta disclosed that Rev Fr Faustinus Ibewuike of St. Anthony Parish Uloano Ndugba in Isu LGA who was returning from an early morning mass with a Rav 4 Toyota jeep was blocked with a V-boot car driven by the criminals at Umuduruoha Village, Uloana Ndugba. The hoodlums alighted from their vehicle and rushed the bewildered cleric under gun point and later pushed him behind the driver’s seat.
Later, the kidnappers transferred two other victims, kidnapped at Eziama Obaire in Nkwerre Local Government Area. The two victims who were abducted hail from Umueke Village, Owerre Nkworji in Nkwerre LGA. They were on their way to Owerri to attend a court session.
The CP explained that after completing the transfer exercise and coasting home with satisfaction that they have succeeded in their loot, a combined team of police patrol on Orlu/Njaba Road in Mbaitolu LGA, got wind of the incident and gave them a hot chase. The patrol team moved towards Orodo where they sighted the vehicle used in the abduction already parked in the area.
On noticing an uncompleted building inside a bush close to the car, the patrol team cordoned off the area and started combing the surroundings. It was then that the hoodlums opened fire on the police men and there was exchange of gun shots. One of the kidnappers, Chinedu Sylvester Osuji, a welder from Okohia Mbieri in Mbaitolu LGA, sustained bullet wounds.
The kidnappers however bowed to the superior fireworks of the police men and abandoned their victims whose eyes were blindfolded in an underground room in an uncompleted filling station. The victims were rescued alive together with their Mercedes Benz and Rav 4 Toyota Jeep. The suspect who was shot became incapacitated and could not run. He later died as a result of the gun shots sustained while others escaped and police are on their pursuit.
