Three staff members of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who were kidnapped during an inspection tour over the weekend at Kolumaturo in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have been released.
Three staff members of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who were kidnapped during an inspection tour over the weekend at Kolumaturo in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have been released.
The trio was released in the last hours of Tuesday after a ransom of 10 million naira was paid to their captors, who were negotiated down from the official 400 million naira.
In a separate incident, Delta State police yesterday gunned down a suspected kidnapper during a gun battle with gunmen in Kokori community with a gang that had successfully abducted a woman last Monday in Ovwian-Aladja, near Warri. The woman was saved and was unharmed.
Police spokesperson Celestina Kalu said in a statement issued on Wednesday from Asaba that the suspect was felled by the superior firepower of the police during a shoot-out.
"On August 10, 2015, the Divisional Police Officer at Isiokolo Division received a distress call that a female kidnap victim was sighted in an uncompleted building in Kokori.
"Sequel to the information, police patrol team and community vigilante men were mobilized to the scene where the hoodlums on sighting the security team opened fire on them.
"In the ensuing gun battle, one of the criminals was gunned down while others escaped. The kidnap victim was however rescued unhurt," Kalu said
According to her, the kidnappers demanded a N30 million ransom from the victim’s family before their luck ran out.