Saturday, April 27, 2024 -Police Operatives of the Enugu State Command, acting on intelligence-guided discreet investigations, have arrested two male kidnapping suspects allegedly involved in the abduction of a heavily pregnant woman along Eke-Egede Road in Udi LGA, around 9:45 p.m., on April 22, 2024.
The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State
Command, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, has equally ordered the manhunt of other members of
the kidnapping gang at large.
The arrest was confirmed in a statement
issued on Saturday by DSP Daniel Ndukwe, Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO,
Enugu State Command.
This is also as the victim’s husband, Mr
Ekene Igwe, has hailed the Enugu State government for its quick intervention,
which includes taking over the wife’s medical bills.
Ndukwe on his part said CP Uzuegbu swiftly
led a crack team of police operatives, complemented by the Neighborhood Watch
Group and Forest Guards, to rescue the woman on April 23, 2024, around noon,
barely 24 hours after her abduction.
According to him, “Providentially, the
woman, later identified as Chinwendu Igwe and already in her expected period of
delivery, delivered a male child and, upon her rescue, was taken to the
hospital, where she and the baby were medically attended to and are in good
condition courtesy of the Enugu State Government, which has undertaken to foot
the medical bills of the mother and newborn.
“A preliminary investigation into the
incident has revealed that the woman, unaided and for reasons yet-to-be
ascertained, knowing that she was within her expected period of delivery,
embarked on a journey by land with two of her children from Lagos to her
paternal home in Egede, Udi LGA.
“She got to 9th Mile around 9 p.m. Lacking a
convenient means of conveyance, she boarded a commercial motorcycle, with the
motorcyclist electing to transport her and her two children due to her state of
pregnancy.
“However, while on their way, the abductors
attacked them, beat up the motorcyclist, and abducted the woman into the
forest, leaving the rider and the children behind, before a team of Police
Operatives from the Ezinze Police Division of the Command that responded upon
intercepting information on the incident, could get to the scene.”
“The CP further describes as total
misinformation the report by The Nation Newspaper of April 27, 2024 stating
that ‘the woman was on her way to the hospital for delivery’ and that ‘the
motorcyclist rescued the two children’.
“He, therefore, enjoins media houses to
always maintain accuracy and objectivity when reporting security information of
this nature to avoid misinforming the unsuspecting public and violating laws
and ethics of media practices.
“The CP bemoans the fact that Mrs. Igwe the
decided to embark on such long-distance travel by land and unaided, considering
her heavy pregnancy and the time of movement to her destination. Neither did
she consider stopping by and having her husband, who resides in the Enugu
metropolis, take her to the said paternal home at a later time. Hence, he urges
all and sundry to exercise discretion and caution in such circumstances,”
Ndukwe stated.
Meanwhile, the victim’s husband, Mr Igwe has
commended Governor Peter Mbah highly for the state government’s prompt
intervention upon learning about the development.
He said the Park Lane Hospital was taking care of the mother and child with the state government bearing full expenses and supporting the family financially.
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