Troops raid IPOB hideout, rescue kidnap victim after N2 million ransom

Troops of the Nigerian Army have rescued a kidnapped woman in Enugu State, Nigeria’s South-east.

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In a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the Nigerian Army said the troops also recovered a cash of N2 million ransom, which the family earlier paid to the kidnappers.

Although the army did not give details, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the victim, Joseph Victoria, was kidnapped on Friday along Umeje Road, Adani, a community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Sources said the kidnappers initially demanded N40 million as ransom for her release, but the victim’s husband was only able to pay N2 million, which the troops recovered during an operation on Tuesday.

The Nigerian Army, in its statement, said troops of 82 Division Garrison deployed at Adani in Uzo-Uwani LGA carried out the operation in collaboration with a joint security task force.

It said the joint security team had received a tip-off from the State Security Service about the incident, which prompted them to track and then intercept the ransom paid to the gang.

“The swift raid led to the arrest of a notorious kidnap suspect, further exposing the group’s reliance on criminality to sustain its collapsing network,” the army said.

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Apart from the cash of N2 million, a pump-action rifle was also recovered from the gang during the operation, according to the army.

“The suspect and recovered items have been handed over to the appropriate authorities, for a thorough investigation to track other members of the criminal gang,” it said.

This newspaper gathered that the suspect and the recovered items were handed over to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Adani, Enugu State.

Lives saved as troops defuse IPOB bomb in South-east

The Nigerian Army said, in a separate operation on Tuesday, joint troops of Sector 1, supported by the Air Component of Operation Udo Ka, struck a hideout belonging to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militant wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

It said the “precision strike and clearance operation,” was launched at the IPOB/ESN Forest in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

“The offensive forced IPOB/ESN elements into a chaotic retreat, abandoning critical assets, including an anti-tank Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

“The IED was safely secured by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Security team, averting potential harm to troops and civilians,” the army said, pointing out that IPOB’s failure to detonate the IED underscores the group’s desperation and declining operational competence.

The army said the troops have destroyed IPOB’s hideouts and also established “firm dominance over the general area,” sustaining aggressive clearance operations.

“The deliberate destruction of hideouts using chainsaws and bulldozers has stripped the criminals of cover, leaving them exposed, scattered and unable to regroup or mount any meaningful resistance.

“These outcomes further demonstrate that IPOB/ESN elements are steadily losing ground, resources and cohesion under sustained military pressure,” it said.

The army said it remains unrelenting and committed to fighting criminals and insurgents in the country.

It further assured that it is committed to protecting lives and property and urged the people to continue to support them as operations intensify to restore enduring peace and stability across the South-east.

IPOB, a group seeking to carve out a sovereign state of Biafra from south-east and some parts of the south-south of Nigeria, has been linked to some deadly attacks in two regions.

But the separatist group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.

Meanwhile, there have been growing attacks by kidnappers across Nigeria.

Civil servants, business owners, politicians and even students have become targets of such attacks in the country lately.

In March for instance, gunmen, believed to be kidnappers, abducted and then killed Francis Igwe, father of a former deputy governor of Ebonyi State.

Police, later, announced the arrest of some of the suspects in connection with the abduction and killing of the victim.

In Nigeria, kidnapping is a criminal offence.

The country’s authorities enacted the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act (2022) which outlawed all forms of kidnapping.

The Act prescribes death sentence for kidnapping in a case where the abduction leads to loss of life and life imprisonment where there is no loss of life.

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It was an amendment to the now defunct Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act (2013) which had prescribed a 10-years jail term for kidnapping.

The new Act also prescribes at least a 15-year jail term for whoever pays ransom to free kidnap victims.

Several persons have been convicted for kidnapping across Nigeria.

An Ikeja Special Offences Court, in September 2022, sentenced kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, to 21 years imprisonment for kidnapping.