Officers attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Imo State have killed two kidnappers during a gun duel, one of them being a dismissed police officer, Martins Nwoke.
The heated gunfire exchange occurred Hospital Junction, Port Harcourt Road in Owerri.
According to reports from Southern News, the former police sergeant was in the process of selling one of the vehicles they stole from their victims when the SARS operatives accosted them.
Narrating how the incident went down, a police source stated, “At Hospital Junction, Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, SARS operatives, led by their commander, Godfrey Victor, while on a tip-off, engaged two kidnappers and armed robbers in a gun duel.
“The two suspects fell to the superior firepower of the police. An ash coloured Toyota Camry with number plate, LSD 857 FR, suspected to have been robbed from a kidnap victim, was recovered.
“Also recovered were one locally-made pistol, two expended and one live cartridge, and charms of various types. It is important to note that these two deceased suspects had been on our wanted list in cases of kidnapping and armed robberies.
“The dead suspects came into Imo State trying to sell the car at a give-away price. Our men closed in on them and immediately they saw us, they opened fire on us; but we overpowered them.”
Reports also revealed the slain kidnapper had just been released from prison after he was convicted in an armed robbery case.
Nwoke is equally said to have been living in a police barracks until the time of his death.
In his address about the case, the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, Orlando Ikeokwu, stated that the commissioner of police in the state, Rabiu Ladodo, had also learned about the incident and asked that all other members of the criminal group should be arrested and brought to book.
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