Two injured and nine dead in gunfight between Lagos police and kidnappers

The Ladipo region of the state saw a failed attempt at kidnapping, and the Lagos State Police Command has revealed that some of the kidnappers engaged its officers in a fire duel.

The kidnappers had already finished their attack, according to Benjamin Hundeyin, the command’s police public relations officer, when the officers encountered them on Thursday.

Nine of the kidnappers were murdered, according to a statement released by Hundeyin on Friday; the other two managed to flee with bullet wounds.

He claimed that the abductors intended to take several affluent people from Lagos State’s Isolo, Okota, Ejigbo, and Ladipo neighborhoods.

Hundeyin said: “Our intelligence gathering assets yielded very credible and actionable intelligence about a dangerous and very notorious gang of kidnappers planning to kidnap some high net-worth individuals in Lagos.

“Upon receipt of this intelligence about two weeks ago, CP Fayoade directed the Command’s tactical teams to commence work on it.

“They followed up closely, monitored dutifully and were able to determine that the gang was going to strike yesterday in Ladipo area of Lagos State. With the benefit of this information, we were able to proactively prepare for them and more or less laid an ambush for them.

“Four AK-47 rifles, four locally-made semiautomatic pistols, nine AK47 magazines, three walkie-talkies, one POS machine and a loud speaker were recovered from them. Also recovered are their two operational vehicles: one black Toyota 4Runner and a blue Lexus RX350. Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects.”