By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo Four suspected gang leaders with activities linked to the kidnap of top business owners and prominent traditi
By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Four suspected gang leaders with activities linked to the kidnap of top business owners and prominent traditional rulers in Uyo, Eket, and Oron axis of Akwa Ibom State as well as other neighbouring states in the South South region, have been arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS).
A source from DSS office in Uyo, hinted that the suspects were arrested last weekend with two AK-47 rifles and six fully-loaded magazines at their hideout in Oron local government area.
The gang leaders according to the source, invaded Akwa Ibom State with a target to kidnap top politicians who attended the formal defection ceremony of Governor Umo Eno from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), an event that coincided with the Eid El-Kabir holiday.
“The history of the operations of this notorious gang primarily involved targeting high-ranking expatriate staff of oil companies, high net worth business owners, and prominent traditional rulers across the South-South geo-political Zone,” the source asserted
In another breakthrough, the source disclosed that the DSS through her covert operations, have smashed a sea pirate gang linked to the November 2024 kidnap of two Chinese nationals and a Nigerian staff of MarkSino quarry in Cross River State, which during that attack, the kidnappers reportedly shot dead a Police Inspector attached to the workers, and carted away his AK-47 rifle.
Meanwhile, the Center for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN), a foremost civil society-cum-human rights organisation in Nigeria, has commended the Department of State Service (DSS) for preventing major kidnappings in Akwa Ibom during the Eid El-Kabir Sallah festivities.
The Center in a press released
signed by its Director and Secretary, Otuekong Franklyn Isong and Christopher Ekpo Esq., respectively and made available to newsmen in Uyo on Monday, described the arrest by DSS as a major breakthrough in the crackdown on criminals terrorizing the state and the South-South zone.
According to CHRAN, “the recent breakthroughs and many more, highlighted the resolve of the DSS to secure Nigerians through its sustained covert operations.”
The CHRAN however, called, on the Service not to relent in executing such covert operations as they are strategically needed to drastically reduce the protracted menace of sea piracy, kidnapping and other high profile crimes in the country.
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