Soldiers arrest three kidnappers in Aba, rescue victim, recover guns

Soldiers attached to 144 Battalion under 14Brigade Headquarters of Nigerian Army, Ohafia, Abia State have reportedly arrested three members of a kidnapping gang operating in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state and its environs.

The soldiers, our correspondent gathered also rescued a yet-to-be identified kidnapped victim trapped inside the boot of the car being driven by the gang and recovered cache of ammunitions and guns which they allegedly used for their operation.

Sources told our reporter that the incident which happened on the busy Waterside Bridge along the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Expressway took passerby by surprise as no one anticipated the incident.

The victim, it was learnt was picked shortly after leaving his church premises in one of the new generation churches in Aba.

It was learnt that luck ran out on the hoodlums as they were heading towards outside the commercial city when the soldiers through their instinct and on suspicion asked the driver of the SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) to pull over.

A source who claimed to have witnessed the incident said that the resistance of the gang members to obey the soldiers caused traffic gridlock, the soldiers called for reinforcement who on arrival forced the gang members out of the car and in the process wounding some of them in the process.

It was gathered that the soldiers after overpowering the gang, forced the boot of the car open and to their bewilderment saw the kidnapper’s victim trapped in the boot of the car.

The victim was said to have been rescued and the suspected kidnappers taken away by the soldiers in their vans.

When contacted, a source at the army battalion who pleaded not to be mentioned in print confirmed the incident.

The source said that the victim has reunited with his family, while the suspects were being interrogated, adding that they would make the outcome of their investigation public as soon as they concluded investigation on the matter.