A combined team of operatives from Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and the Police, Tuesday night rescued Mrs. Ladi Abel, the 45-year-old wife of a senior immigration officer, who was kidnapped on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway while on her way to the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos.
Confirming the rescue, the Public Relations Officer of the NIS, Seme Border Command, Mr. Isaac Elijah, said: ‘The victim was rescued about 11:45 p.m., at a swampy area located at 47, Ogunleye Street, Ibereko, after the kidnappers fled their hideout when they realised that security operatives were closing in on them.
‘It took the combined efforts of about 20 Immigration officers, 25 Police personnel, and members of the Ibereko community to rescue the victim.
‘The Divisional Police Officer of Badagry Police Station, Folajimi Akosile, led the operation that busted the syndicate’s hideout. Unfortunately, none of the suspects was arrested as they had escaped before the team arrived’.
I paid N2.5m ransom before my wife was rescued
The victim’s husband, Abel Mada, disclosed that he had already paid N2.5 million ransom demanded by the abductors before his wife was rescued.
‘They demanded N3 million. I first sent N500,000 in the afternoon and N2 million later in the evening. I was still struggling to raise the balance N500,000 when I got the call that she had been rescued’, he recounted.
Miss Naomi Abel, daughter of the victim, said her mother was abducted at Torikoh Bus Stop, Badagry, by kidnappers operating in two commercial buses.
‘They sprayed a white substance that made passengers unconscious and took about 15 people to their hideout at Ibereko. My mother said some of those held with her appeared to be working with the kidnappers’, she narrated.
She expressed gratitude to the Police, Immigration officers and the Ibereko community for their swift intervention, saying the rescue saved her family from further extortion.
