ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Unidentified gunmen have killed two security operatives in Bayelsa State.
The deceased comprises a police sergeant and an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the state security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo.
The gunmen were said to have on Sunday engaged the Operation Doo Akpo team in a shoot-out at Okarki Junction in Yenagoa area of the state.
The two unnamed security operatives reportedly sustained fatal gunshot wounds during the gun duel which resulted in their deaths.
However, it was gathered that the security operatives were able to repel the gunmen from attacking the nipping point at Okarki.
In two separate incidents, gunmen, suspected to be kidnappers, abducted two persons in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The assailants, three in number, allegedly armed with AK 47 rifles, had at the weekend abducted a middle-aged man and owner of Nonso Steel Company Limited on Isaac Boro Expressway, by School Junction, Yenagoa.
The abductors were said to have emerged from a Sienna car, shot indiscriminately into the air to scare people around his residence on Fido Water Road, Kpansia, and captured their victim, Chinonso Eze.
Eze was then whisked away to an unknown destination by the gunmen in the full glare of helpless onlookers and neighbours.
On Sunday, suspected kidnappers stormed the residence of one Chief Gbalipre Turner, at about 10pm on Samphino Road, Yenagoa and abducted him to an unknown destination.
Policemen were said to have responded swiftly and pursued the kidnappers to Onuebum Waterfront in Ogbia, where they (kidnappers) abandoned the vehicle used in the kidnap and whisked the victim away through a waiting speedboat.
Reacting to the killing of two Doo Akpo operatives, spokesman for the Bayelsa State Police Command, SP Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident.
He said: “Operatives of a Joint Task Force codenamed Operation Doo Akpo, repelled an attack by unknown gunmen at a nipping point at Okarki Junction, Yenagoa.
“On September 5, 2021, at about 2030hours, operatives of Operation Doo Akpo, at Okarki Junction, came under heavy fire by unknown gunmen. The gallant operatives engaged the hoodlums in a shoot-out and repelled them from attacking the nipping point.
“Unfortunately, a Police Sergeant and an operative of the NSCDC, sustained fatal gunshot wounds, which led to their deaths.”
Butswat also confirmed the kidnap of Chief Gbalipre Turner, male, on Sunday, September 5, at about 2200 hours at Samphino Road, Yenagoa.
He said policemen responded swiftly and pursued the kidnappers to Onuebum waterfront, where they abandoned the vehicle used in the kidnap and whisked away with the victim through a speedboat.
He also confirmed the abduction of Eze in his residence on September 3 and said investigation was ongoing to arrest the fleeing kidnappers.
He said the Commissioner of Police, Echeng E. Echeng, had ordered a manhunt to rescue the kidnapped victims and arrest the fleeing gunmen.
He said the CP further appealed to members of the public to volunteer useful information that would assist the police in their investigation.