The police command in Delta State says it has killed six kidnap suspects in the state.

Bright Edafe, the command’s spokesperson, disclosed this at a news briefing on Tuesday in Warri.

Mr Edafe, a superintendent of police, said the suspects were shot dead on Wednesday when operatives raided their hideout on the Ughelli-Patani Expressway.

He said the Commissioner of Police Special Assignment Team (CP-SAT) was on a sting operation when they stormed the criminal hideout, located near Unenurhei Community on the expressway.

“On 9 July, the CP-SAT, while on a sting operation, raided the suspects’ hideout near Unenurhei axis, on the Ughelli-Patani Expressway.

“During the operation, the suspects, who were heavily armed, engaged the police team in a fierce gun duel. In the process, the suspects sustained gunshot injuries.

“They were taken to the hospital, where six of them were confirmed dead, while two others are still receiving treatment.”

He said that four locally-made guns and 19 rounds of live cartridges were recovered from them.

Abduction for ransom has become one of the top crimes in many Nigerian cities.

The police in Delta recently arrested five suspected kidnappers and recovered N5 million, believed to be money paid as ransom to them.

The arrest of the five suspects and the recovery of the N5 million came less than two weeks after the police arrested a suspected member of a kidnapping and armed robbery syndicate terrorising Ughelli, Warri, Agbarho, and Sapele areas of the state.

The police had said they had recovered from one suspect a POS machine used to collect ransom payments.

Last month, this newspaper reported how the police arrested three suspected members of an “interstate kidnap syndicate” in the state.

Mr Edafe said that members of the syndicate operate in the South-south and South-east states of Delta, Rivers, Enugu, and Imo. He identified the suspects as Idris Yakubu, 21, from Kwara State; Bello Amodu, 40, from Sokoto State, and Umar Mohammed, 38, from Kebbi State.

(NAN)