After being held captive for three days in the custody of their captors, the three Indian nationals who were kidnapped on 3 May 2024, on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway were released on Monday.
Ogun State Police Command said on Tuesday that the trio of Tejaram Chauham, Kaduwal Pradhan, and Medani Kathiwada had been reunited with their families.
About sixteen of them, expatriates working at the Indian Breeze Company near the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, were heading back to their Pentagon Estate home at around 7 pm when a group of gunmen suspected to be kidnappers emerged from the bush, according to information exclusively obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday.
The manager of the company, Akintande Segun reported to the police that the gunmen opened fire on their two Toyota Hiace buses, which had the number plates FST 686 YH and SMK 986 YE, as soon as they saw their buses approaching, subsequently leading to the kidnapping of the expatriates.
It was also learnt that a police officer, Inspector Joshua Shua, retaliated with gunfire and then escaped with all the occupants of the bus he was on.
However, the second bus, which was carrying Chauham, Pradhan, and Kathiwada along with no mobile police officer, was unable to flee its assailants during the attack, with all of the passengers reportedly being kidnapped and taken to unidentified locations.
Just one of the five police officers assigned to the company was present when the expatriates were attacked, according to a police source who was privy to the investigation that was conducted after the attack but wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak on the matter.
The source said: “During the investigation, it was discovered that the company employed the services of five mobile men from 54 PMF Onitsha, but only one was on the ground during the attack. We deployed our men along with local vigilante personnel to comb the entire area to rescue the victims.”
In a Tuesday WhatsApp conversation with newmen, the command spokesperson, Superintendent Omolola Odutola disclosed that the three had been freed, though she did not specify if a ransom had been paid.
“The three kidnapped Indian nationals have regained their freedom. They were freed at about 8:41 p.m. on Monday. Our men are doubling up their efforts to ensure the kidnappers are arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law”, she stated.
It was reported on 21 April how PengChao Zhang, a Chinese national, was freed from the grasp of a six-man armed gang on the outskirts of Ilorin, Kwara State, at the Cherish Guest House.
The abductors held Zhang captive for ten days before he was found in a state forest.
The Chinese national was reportedly rescued by police officers working in tandem with neighbourhood vigilantes.
