By  Anayo Okoli
Umuahia—ABIA State police command  said yesterday that its men killed  three suspected kidnappers at Umuibe village in Obingwa LGA  in a shootout.

According to the Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. Kings Omire, the slain  suspects were members of  a kidnap syndicate terrorizing residents of the area.

Omire said the  police got information about the movement of the gang which operated in a bus at Umuibe village in the wee hours of Tuesday, and quickly deployed anti-terrorist squad who laid ambush at different locations around the area.

According to him, the kidnappers were about to intercept an on-coming car, ostensibly to abduct the occupants, when the police crack team closed in on them.

On seeing the police, Omire said, the suspects numbering about seven, abandoned their target and were about to flee when the police cordoned off the area, adding that on sensing  danger, the suspects opened fire at the police who after a gun dual subdued them.

‘’Our men were encouraged by the bullet proof vest they were putting on , and they also allowed the criminals to exhaust their bullets,’’ Omire said.

According to him, after the gun battle, two bodies of the suspects were later discovered in a nearby bush, while one of them,  believed to be the driver, was gunned down as he attempted to jump out  of the L300 Mitsubishi bus, marked Ebonyi XA 761 BKL, with which they operated.

Omire disclosed that his men found a military rifle and two magazines with seven live ammunition as well as hundreds of expended ammunition when they combed the bush.

Meanwhile, the command has paraded   five suspected kidnappers and armed robbers said to be terrorizing residents of the state. One of the suspects was said to a final year student of Abia State University, Uturu, while his accomplice,

Mr. Ndionyemma Joseph Okonjo, was said to be a business centre operator in Umuahia  and hails from Obehie in Ukwa West local government area.