. Police begin manhunt
Gunmen, suspected to be kidnappers in Delta state, have laid an ambush for a team of police officers on rescue operation, dispatching a senior police officer to an untimely death, injuring several others before disappearing into thin air.
According to sources, in the early hours of Monday, at about 1.00 am, a group of daring abductors, who knew that police officers were tracking them, laid in wait for the law enforcement agents on a rescue operation, near a train station at Agbarho community, opened fire on the team, and shot dead a newly-posted Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Agbarho Police Division.
The slain DPO, according to reports, had resumed duty in Agbarho two days before his untimely death.
The gunmen also shot and injured the DPO, Orerokpe Police Division, CSP Paul Oboware, and other police officers involved in a rescue operation. They were hospitalized at the time of this report.
Almost a week after the hair-raising incident, there was no clue on the whereabouts of the hostage takers, but a combined team of police and soldiers have been deployed to track them down.
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The dastardly acts sent shockwaves down the spine of residents, who have been subjected to the impunity of kidnappers in various parts of the state in recent months.
An account of the chilling incident said: ”The DPO, Agbarho got a call from his colleague in Orerokpe that a Sienna vehicle the Orerokpe police were tracking was in Agbarho. And they were coming for it. They said the vehicle was used by kidnappers and carrying the hostage.
”The DPO Agbarho joined his colleague and headed to where the tracked vehicle was around the Railway Flyover Bridge on the Agbarho – Ughelli end of the East-West Road.
”Before they got there (flyover bridge), the suspected kidnappers, who suspected that police officers might have demobilized the car, had alighted from their vehicle. They left the hostage in the car and climbed the flyover, waiting for the police officers.
”Unknown to the police officers tracking the car, the kidnappers had taken a strategic position on the bridge, the DPO and his colleagues drove close to the demobilized vehicle.
“From the top of the bridge, the kidnappers audaciously started shooting sporadically at the vehicle conveying the DPO and his colleagues.
“The DPOs and their team tried to reverse but were not lucky. The bullets picked one of them around the abdomen and the other around his neck region…”
The Agbarho DPO who was shot in his stomach died on the spot while his colleague DPO from Orerokpe, CSP Paul Oboware, was shot in the neck and rushed to an unknown hospital for treatment.
“The remains of the deceased DPO have been deposited in the morgue while tactical teams, including soldiers, have been deployed to track the suspected hoodlums.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, of Delta State Police Command, Superintendent Bright Edafe, who confirmed the death of the DPO, said: “It is true that our DPO Agbarho was shot dead in Agbarho by suspected kidnappers. They went on security operations.”
His words: “They ran into an ambush during an operation. Though no arrest has been made, the police are on the trail of the suspects.”
The Publicity Secretary of the Agbarho-Urhobo Improvement Union, AUIU, Chief Felix Ofurhie, said residents of the community were shocked when they heard of the sad incident, adding that vigilante members from the area had been combing bushes with policemen since the incident.
