Operatives of the Akwa Ibom state police command have rescued twenty-eight fishermen kidnapped and held hostage for 8hours by a five-man gang in Akwakpa, in Uruan Local Goverment Area of the State.
The Commissioner of police, Mr. Olatoye Durosinmi who disclosed this at the command’s headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia during a media interaction on Friday, said the fishermen were rescued through intelligence.
Durosinmi explained that he drafted Marine officers to the area as soon as he got the report, who were able to rescue the victims at the creeks, where they were held hostage by their abductors.
He said: “The 28 men and women you see here are the people rescued by Marine Police officers. The victims at about 18: 00hrs yesterday were attacked on the sea by a five man gang pirates. They seized their boat and put them where they will not come out.
“These men of the underworld will pretend to be fishermen, bumped into them and asked them to get into the boat. Fortunately, one of them had the phone number of the local government chairman who later alerted me. The usual practice is that they go out on Thursday and come back on a Sunday.
“They were there all through the night searching where they were and by 10:00hr my officers found them around a creek with their boats. As I speak, the detachment of the marine officers are still trailing the suspects. The long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.”
The CP assured that the command would take the victims to the Police clinic for proper medical attention and thereafter reunite them with their families, adding, “I want to assure the public that I will do all within my powers to ensure that Akwa Ibom is safe both land and sea.”
One of the victims identified as Iboro Asuquo, while speaking to newsmen said, ‘the thieves collected everything from us, they collected millions of Naira from different people.’
Also, narrating their ordeal in the hands of their abductors, one Victoria Pious from Uruan said: “They Collected about N1million from me, which was part of a loan I collected which I pay back N100, 000 monthly including money people gave me to buy things for them.
“They carried us to a place we didn’t know, they covered our faces. They shot in the air severally, beat us mercilessly before collecting our things. They also carried our three boat engines. Thank God that police came this morning and rescued us.”