Police authorities in Delta State have rescued an abducted victim, arrested some suspects and recovered guns in what they described as “significant breakthroughs in its ongoing fight against kidnapping, violent crime and other criminal activities”.

In a statement on Friday, the spokesman of the Delta State Police Command, Bright Edafe, said the abductee was rescued in Sapele.

“At about 1945 hrs on 2nd September 2026, the Sapele Division received a distress report that a woman had been ambushed by armed men at the entrance of her residence along Eko Amukpe Road while attempting to drive into her compound. The suspects fired several shots into the air before taking her into a nearby bush,” the statement read in part.

“Upon receipt of the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Sapele Division, immediately mobilised patrol and surveillance teams to the scene, where expended AK-47 ammunition shells were recovered. Operatives, supported by local vigilantes, thereafter commenced an intensive search of the surrounding bushes.

“The search was sustained throughout the night into the morning of 3rd September 2026, mounting pressure on the kidnappers and forcing them to abandon the victim and flee. The woman was subsequently located and rescued unharmed and has since been reunited with her family. The Command has intensified efforts to track down and arrest the fleeing suspects.”

Meanwhile, Edafe said following an investigation into an attempted murder earlier reported on 3rd September 2026, operatives of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) raided black spots within Abraka.

The operation led to the arrest of eight suspects, and during the operation, three locally made pistols, Tramadol and other suspected illicit drugs were recovered.

The suspects and exhibits are in custody, while an investigation is ongoing to establish their individual involvement in the attempted murder and other criminal activities within the area, the police said.

In the wake of the “successes recorded”, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, Samuel Erale, commended the operatives and vigilantes.

Erale reiterated the Command’s determination to sustain intelligence-led operations and decisive action against kidnappers, cultists and other criminal elements across Delta State. (Channels TV)