Three Indian nationals who were kidnapped on May 3, 2024, on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway were released on Monday.
According to The PUNCH, the Ogun State Police Command Tuesday that the trio of Tejaram Chauham, Kaduwal Pradhan, and Medani Kathiwada had been reunited with their families.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It would be recalled that 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.
