Two suspected members of a kidnap gang were shot dead on Thursday as they engaged operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad in a gun battle in Odeda area of Ogun State.
The FSARS had gone to rescue the wife of a pastor allegedly kidnapped by the suspects when they engaged the operatives in a gun battle.
The woman, who boarded a taxi going to Eleweran, was forcibly taken to a bush in Kila village in Odeda, where she was held hostage.The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said trouble started at about 1pm on the fateful day when a distress call was made to the police that one Mrs. Ajayi, a pastor’s wife, had been kidnapped along the Abeokuta-Ibadan Road.
He said the kidnappers from the location put a call across to Ajayi’s husband, informing him that his wife was in their custody and demanded a N2m ransom.
Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said the pastor quickly informed the police, after which the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, directed the officer in-charge at FSARS, Uba Adam, to go after the gang.
Adam led his men to the bush where the suspects were traced to and engaged them in a gun battle which lasted about 45 minutes.
He added that at the end of the encounter, two members of the gang were shot and arrested but they died on the way to hospital.
Oyeyemi, who said the victim was rescued unhurt, however, explained that one of the policemen was injured and currently undergoing treatment at a hospital.
He said two locally made single-barrelled guns and four live cartridges, were recovered from the hoodlums.
