The Edo State Police Command says it has intensified operations along major highways in the state, resulting in the rescue of a kidnap victim and the prevention of another attempted abduction.
The spokesperson for the command, SP Moses Yamu, announced on Sunday that operatives recovered a victim, Elohor Osifoh, who was abducted on 10 September, after what he described as “days of relentless bush combing rescue operation.” Osifoh has since been reunited with her family.
In a separate operation, police operatives foiled the attempted abduction of three travellers along the Benin–Lagos expressway in the early hours of 13 September.
“At about 02:30hrs, operatives of the Okada Division led by CSP Opatoyinbo John, while on a routine patrol at Morgan and Isiuwa slope, responded swiftly to a distress call regarding a kidnapping attempt,” Yamu said in the statement.
He explained that armed hoodlums had barricaded the road with woods and opened fire on a Toyota Sienna vehicle with registration number KUJ 342 CU, driven by 51-year-old Nana Aghogho, who was transporting fingerling fish from Lagos to Akwa Ibom. Two passengers, identified as Oseghale Mathias, 40, and John Edobor, 24, were also in the vehicle.
Yamu said police officers engaged the gunmen in a shootout, forcing them to abandon the operation and flee into the surrounding bush.
“The driver and his two passengers were rescued unhurt. The barricades placed by the hoodlums were immediately cleared, thereby restoring free flow of traffic and ensuring the safety of other road users,” he added.
The Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, commended the operatives for their response and urged the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious movements. He reiterated the command’s commitment to clearing criminal elements from Edo’s highways.
In recent months, the command has stepped up highway patrols, stop-and-search operations, and bush combing exercises along the Benin–Lagos and Benin–Auchi expressways, areas that have witnessed repeated kidnapping incidents.
Earlier in August, police rescued several passengers abducted along the Benin–Ekpoma road and arrested suspects linked to kidnapping syndicates.
The latest rescue operations, Yamu said, reflect “a renewed strategy of rapid response and proactive engagement” in line with directives from the Inspector-General of Police for states to strengthen highway security and protect economic activities dependent on road transport.
