THREE ABDUCTED INDIAN NATIONALS REGAIN FREEDOM

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The three Indian nationals abducted on May 3, 2024, on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway received their freedom on Monday after spending three days in the hands of their abductors.

On Tuesday, our correspondent received exclusive word from the Ogun State Police Command that Tejaram Chauham, Kaduwal Pradhan, and Medani Kathiwada had been reunited with their families.

According to information exclusively obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, about sixteen of them, expatriates working at the Indian Breeze Company near the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, were returning home to their Pentagon Estate residence at around seven o’clock at night when a group of gunmen suspected of being kidnappers emerged from the bush.

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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.

Additionally, our correspondent has learned that Inspector Joshua Shua, a police officer, returned fire in retaliation and then fled the bus along with all of the passengers.

But during the attack, the second bus—which was carrying Chauham, Pradhan, and Kathiwada in addition to no mobile police officer—was unable to escape its attackers, and all of the passengers were reportedly abducted and taken to unknown 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 our correspondent, the command spokesperson, 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,” Odutola stated.

It was reported on April 21 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.

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