RIVERS: POLICE RESCUE HOTELIER HELD BY KIDNAPPERS DESPITE COLLECTING N25M RANSOM. (PHOTO).

 Rivers: Police rescue hotelier held by kidnappers despite collecting N25m ransom

….Abductors shot the victim thrice, kept him in a forest in Rivers for about three weeks

Detectives of the Rivers Police Command have rescued a popular Port Harcourt-based hotelier who was kidnapped and shot thrice by his abductors despite collecting N25 million as ransom from his family.

Rivers Commissioner of Police Olatunji Disu told journalists during a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that the hotelier was kidnapped on December 19, 2023, and was shot three times before he was abducted.

CP Disu said despite collecting a total ransom of N25 million as ransom from members of the hotelier’s family, the kidnappers refused to release him and kept him in the den where he was nursing the gunshot injuries for three weeks.

The Police boss disclosed that the family members decided to report their ordeal to the police and this led to the deployment of operatives of the C41 intelligence unit of the command in a manhunt for the kidnappers and the victim.

Disu explained that on Tuesday 9, January 2024, the Police detectives acting on reliable intelligence, found out that the victim who was abducted in the Artillery axis of Port Harcourt was kept in the hideout of the kidnappers at the Agbon-Chia forest at Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers state.

He said the detectives stormed the hideout, rescued the victim and arrested one of the kidnappers who sustained bullet wounds during an exchange of gunfire with the Police, while other members fled.

One AK 47, two magazines, Rx 350 and 330 Lexus SUV Vehicles were recovered from the suspects, according to the Police Commissioner.

The State Police boss further revealed that the kidnappers applied a decoy of collecting the N25M ransom in food flasks to avoid suspicion and detection from the prying eyes of Police and members of the Public.

He assured that the Police were trailing other members of the gang to arrest them.

The CP also revealed that the injured kidnapper as well as the kidnapped victim is receiving treatment in the hospital.

The victim whose name was kept under wraps for security reasons told journalists in the hospital that he saw hell while in the kidnappers’ den and was full of gratitude to the Police for rescuing him.

He told journalists on his hospital bed the Officers and men of the Rivers State Police Command acted professionally and thanked them for the excellent job done.