Ogun State Policehave rescued seven kidnapped victims, including the three employees of Lafia Hospital, Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State.
They were reportedly rescued on July 27, inside Fidiwo/Onigari forest, along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
It was gathered that their rescue followed a manhunt for suspected criminals said to have kidnapped the hospital workers on July 23.
Police sources said Inspector-General of Police (IG) Mohammed Adamu had ordered the deployment of air and ground forces in the forest to arrest the kidnappers and rescue the victims.
Following this directive, it was learnt that Police Commissioner Bashir Makama mandated his deputies to carry out the mission and assisted them with technical and forensic investigation tools.
Confirming the rescue, spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the victims had been reunited with their families.
He said operatives raided area, forcing the kidnappers to push out their victims.
“It was then we discovered that the victims were seven and not three. We discovered that four other persons were kidnapped on July 24, but the incident was not reported. Seven victims were rescued in all on July 27 and they have been reunited with their families.
“We arrested a suspect who is believed to have taken part in the kidnapping. He is assisting the police in their investigation. Forty others were arrested during a raid of surrounding forests and vulnerable points. We recovered illicit drugs from them.
“They are being investigated. Whoever is culpable among them will be arraigned. The command will not rest on its oars to ensure crimes become a thing of the past in Ogun State,” Oyeyemi said.
An indigene of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has been linked to the July 23 abduction of three persons, including Kayode, the son of the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Lafia Hospital, Apata, Ibadan, Dr. Oladipupo Sule, by bandits on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The suspect, who was earlier convicted of kidnapping, was arrested inside Fidiwo/Onigari forest on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway when the Ogun State Police Command’s special force comprising Anti-Kidnapping, Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) and detectives stormed the forest and smoked the bandits out.
Kayode and two others – all said to be workers of Lafia Hospital, were rescued in the forest.