The Cross River police command has confirmed the kidnap of the state Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Ben Ukpepi at his residence in Akpabuyo local government area of the state.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Irene Ugbo, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Calabar. Ugbo said that the NLC Chairman was kidnapped at about 7.30pm on Tuesday night by suspected kidnappers.
“The story of the kidnap of the NLC Chairman is true. He was kidnapped in Akpabuyo in his house. We got the report this morning. The Anti Cultism and Kidnapping Unit are on top of the situation to rescue him,” she said.
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A source who pleaded anonymity told NAN on phone that the NLC Chairman was making a phone call within his residence when his abductors took him away. “His family have been calling his line, but it has been switched off since last night and his abductors have not called up till now,” the source said.
Earlier, The Herald reported that the Police Command in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said it had dismantled kidnappers camps and arrested a suspect along Kwali-Kwaita axis of the territory.
The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT, ASP Mariam Yusuf, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Monday. Yusuf said the camps were dismantled during Counter-Kidnapping Operations in furtherance to the command’s efforts to wipe out kidnappers from the FCT, particularly along Kwali-Kwaita axis.
She said the operation, using overt/covert means dismantled the camps and dislodged the kidnappers bases prompting them to seek refuge.
“The fleeing kidnappers while scampering for safety entered the highway shot at an oncoming vehicle and killed four persons along that axis. The swift intervention of Police Operatives led to the immediate arrest of one of the suspected kidnappers while efforts are on top gear to apprehend his cohorts,” she said.
She said the command commiserate with the families of the deceased and pledged to provide maximum security in the territory to ensure hitch-free Yuletide.