· Abducted Abuja Naval officer, others found in Nasarawa forest
· Four arrested, N3.5m seized
· NAPTIP rescues trafficking victims bound for Iraq
By Laraba MUREY
Navy Lieutenant Cynthia E. Akor who was was abducted by gunmen on Friday evening in Mpape, an Abuja suburb has been rescued in a forest Nasarawa state, the police disclosed on Sunday in Abuja.
Akor was abducted by some gunmen at about 7pm while driving back from work in a Toyota saloon car with another passenger.
According to reports, Naval Unit Abuja received a distress call at approximately 10:10 pm, prompting an immediate response from the authorities.
Her rescue, was effected by a joint taskforce comprising the military and officers of the Anti-kidnapping unit of the Federal Capital Territory of the Nigeria Police Force.
It was further learnt that operatives of the State Security Services, SSS, hunters as well as the local vigilantes group were part of the rescue mission in Nasarawa state.
Confirming the release of the victims, Deputy Commissioner of Police, operations in charge of the FCT command, DCP Isyaku Sharu, said acting on intelligence, the team raided a settlement in Anguwan Mu’azu and Yelwa Hills, Nasarawa State, between 2am and 530 am on Sunday.
According to him, shortly after the attack, the kidnappers contacted the victims’ families, demanding a ransom of N500 million for the naval officer and N200 million each for the two civilians.
“And immediately up on receiving the distress call, an intense search-and-rescue operation by a combined team of taskforce was conducted across Mpape, Gidan Bawa, Anguwan Mu’azu, and Yelwa Hills, covering areas in the FCT and Nasarawa State where the victims were rescued at a settlement,” he said.
The deputy commissioner of police, however, said four suspects have been arrested while a sum of N3.5 million suspected to be ransom from previous kidnapping operations, was recovered from the suspects.
He said the victims were currently in stable condition and receiving medical attention at the Nigerian Army Clinic, Abuja.
DCP Sharu, who said security deployment had also been reinforced in Mpape and surrounding areas to prevent future occurrences, urged members of the public to go about their daily activities without any apprehension.
He further urged residents of the FCT to continue to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities to the police emergency numbers through 08032003913, 08028940883, 07057337653.
In another development, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, said it rescued seven young women believed to be victims of human trafficking after it raided a popular hotel in Zamaru, a few kilometres from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The girls “were being prepared to be trafficked to Baghdad, Iraq, for exploitation,” NAPTIP’s Chief Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, revealed in a statement Sunday evening.
Adekoye said the operation, which followed a tip-off, also led to the arrest of the hotel manager, who is currently being interrogated for allegedly harbouring the victims.
The hotel had been under surveillance after concerned persons raised alarm over the unusual movement of young girls and strange-looking men within the premises—signs, NAPTIP says, pointed to the presence of a trafficking ring.
A preliminary profiling of the rescued victims revealed that six of them were recruited from Lagos, while one hails from Delta State.
They were allegedly lured with promises of “well-paying caregiving jobs in Iraq but later discovered they were being trafficked,” the statement read.
“They told me that I will do a house help job in Baghdad and I will receive good salary every month.
“I believed them because I think say Baghdad is in another country. Them no tell me say I dey go work for Iraq,” one of the victims tearfully recounted, Adekoye wrote.
