One killed, kidnappers injured as Police, hunters rescue four passengers abducted in Osun

By Toba Adedeji, Osogbo

One local guard was killed and three kidnappers sustained bullets injuries when police and hunters rescued four passengers abducted around Odo-Osun in Imesi and Esa-Odo village in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State.

The Nation reported the passengers were abducted by gunmen who laid ambush on three commercial vehicles at two spots in Odo-Osun and Esa-Odo village on Monday.

A security source recounted the rescue operation to The Nation: “Three of them were armed with AK-47 while three others carried pump action rifles. The other one was the Yoruba man who was negotiating the ransom. The six members are Fulani.

“The kidnappers demanded a ransom of N5 million but when they saw that we were resilient to rescue the victims from them they reduced it to N100, 000.

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“They have no place to hide again in the bush because of the joint force on them by the police, hunters, OPC and volunteers from the Kiriji Heritage Defenders.

“After they kidnapped a passenger at the Odo-Osun, we were trailing them and we saw that they have attacked another two vehicles at Esa-Odo village where they kidnapped another three passengers. They were all male.

“They contacted us for ransom that was when we strike them. We engaged each other in a gun battle for close to an hour between 3:45 pm and 4:30 pm.

“Three of the gang members were viciously injured. They carried the injured members into the bush and freed the victims.

“One of the victims sustained a bullet injury. We rescued four of the victims in the Ere village.”

Director-General of Kiriji Heritage Defenders, Dr Ademola Ekundayo, also told The Nation: “Four people have been rescued by security operative but one of our people was killed.”

Osun Commissioner of Police Olawale Olokode confirmed the rescue of four passengers by a combined force of Police, Hunters and Odua Peoples Congress (OPC).

He however said: “One OPC member was killed during the shootout. Some of the kidnappers were seriously injured. The efforts to arrest kidnappers are ongoing.”