By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) have apprehended some Fulani herdsmen kidnappers who specialize in kidnapping people inside bushes and lonely places in Anambra State.
The arrested herdsmen kidnappers, numbering two, were apprehended over the week at Amanuke in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State after they ambushed and kidnapped some land buyers who went to check a land at Mgbakwu, also in Awka North Local Government Area.
This was corroborated by videos currently trending on social media, showing two of the arrested herdsmen and two guns recovered from them, while others are still at large.
According to the video, the intervention of the ESN operatives were the saving grace of the kidnap victims, whom the herdsmen also robbed of their belongings, including their phones and an undisclosed amount of money, before the security operatives intervened and rescued them alive.
Recounting how it happened, one of the victims, Mr. Patrick Nwankwo, who hails from Enugu State, said they went to the thick bush to check a land that they wanted to buy, and after which they were returning to the house of the land owner to conclude their transaction, only for the herdsmen to jump out from the bush and start shooting sporadically.
“Immediately we heard the gunshots, we reversed our cars, and they chased after us, ordering us to stop, while still firing gunshots. And when we eventually stopped, they surrendered us, tied us and led us into a thick bush in Amanuke, which is where we are now,” he said.
Corroborating Nwankwo’s report, another victim of the same operation, Mr. Paul Ezeanyika, an aged man recounted how he hit head on the ground while trying to escape during the attack, before one of kidnappers pointed gun at him and threatened to shoot him dead immediately if he didn’t surrender himself.
“So, I began to plead with him. I begged and begged and begged, until he then ordered me to come out from where I was and join others. And they told us to lie down and face the ground,” Ezeanyika recounted.
He also disclosed that the herdsmen robbed them of their belongings, collected his phone, an undisclosed amount of money he kept inside the car, and even wanted to collect the box of his spectacles, only to see that there was nothing inside it.
Another victim of the same kidnap operation who was also rescued by the ESN also affirmed all the narratives of other victims as true.
When interrogated by the security operatives, the Fulani herdsmen kidnappers, Musa Ibrahim, and Umaru, confessed to the crime and claimed that it was their first time in the kidnapping business.
However, contrary to their earlier claims during their confession, they also made a shocking revelation that they were being sponsored by a very influential man in Awka, whom they said provides guns and bullets for them and sends them on operations.
The duo further identified their gang leader as Ali, whom, they said, led that operation, but is still currently on the run.
The video also shows a deserted hideout/residence of the Fulani herdsmen, located inside bush as was visited the security operatives.
A masculine voice accompanying the video also explained that some of the residents have fled, while only a girl (suspected to be one of their wives) and a cow was seen within the compound.
Efforts by this reporter, Izunna Okafor, to get the reactions of the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ikenga Tochukwu, on the incident proved abortive, as he was yet to respond to the video and messages of inquiry sent to him by the reporter.
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