File: Gunmen

*Getaway vehicle,gun were recovered

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Two suspected kidnappers were yesterday gunned down by members of the Akpor OSPAC Vigilante group Ogbogoro community in Obio-Akpor Local Government area of the state a failed attempt to abduct a woman.

Eyewitnesses said the suspected kidnappers were killed during a gun battle with the OSPAC Vigilante at Rumukwachi community in Ogbogoro when they attempted to abduct a business woman.

The Business woman, one Constance Osikadina, said “I was in my shop around 7pm,we were about to close for the day’s business. Not quite long I heard a gunshot.Immediately I looked behind me, I saw two armed men masked. They ordered me to enter a getaway car. I just sat on the floor immediately. They started hitting me.. We were there for about 30 minutes until I heard somebody shouting from afar. And one was about shooting me and another said “don’t shoot Master said we should bring her alive. Immediately they heard that voice,one of them said come…come they’re coming.They jumped into their car and fled”.

The husband of the woman they wanted to kidnap narrated how OSPAC was alerted.

“Their gunshots created awareness and luckily their vehicle developed fault barely 200meters away from the kidnap scene and they were pushing it. This gave us ample time to make calls. That was how OSPAC gunned two,(by the special grace of God), one was arrested and one escaped. I use this opportunity to appreciate the effort of OSPAC. They tried yesterday”.

The Vice Chairman of Akpor OSPAC, David Amadi, said: “the OSPAC were alerted and they had contact their unit in Ogbogoro that intercepted them. And at exchange of gunfire two were fatally wounded and were handed over to the Police. We recovered one G3 rifle handed it over to the Police along with the vehicle. Some of them escaped.”

The Rivers Police Command was yet to react to failed kidnap incident at time of filing this report.