By AfrikTimes | Abeokuta
The Nigeria Police Force says three suspected kidnappers were killed in a shootout with security operatives after the successful rescue of students abducted from Gateway ICT Polytechnic in Sapaade, Ogun State.
Force spokesperson CSP Ani Iniedu disclosed the operation’s outcome in a statement Sunday, highlighting recent police successes nationwide. According to Iniedu, once the students were freed, operatives from the police anti-kidnapping unit and the Department of State Services tracked the kidnappers to their hideout and engaged them in a gun battle, in which three suspects were killed while others escaped with gunshot wounds.
Iniedu’s statement described the rescued victims as students taken from Ipara who were released unharmed following sustained security pressure; though the exact number varies within available reporting, the police statement itself references both five and six students in different parts of the account. AfrikTimes has sought clarification from the police on the precise figure.
What was recovered
Police say the operation yielded one AK-47 rifle, an empty magazine, three mobile phones, and ₦2.3 million in cash. The State Criminal Investigation Department has since opened a broader investigation into the incident.
Part of a wider security push in Ogun
The rescue follows comments last week from Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, who declared that kidnappers and other criminal elements would find no safe haven in the state after the successful recovery of the students along with two other residents. Speaking at his Oke-Mosan office in Abeokuta alongside security chiefs and some of the rescued students, Abiodun described the operation as evidence of his administration’s commitment to protecting lives and property.
According to the governor, the rescue involved a coordinated effort spanning the Nigeria Police Force, the Armed Forces, the DSS, the NSCDC, Ogun’s Amotekun Corps, local vigilante groups, and hunters. He credited Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu’s approval of a police helicopter for aerial surveillance as a decisive factor in locating and freeing the victims.
