ASABA/Nigeria: The Delta State Police Command has rescued a woman abducted by armed men in Sapele after an overnight search operation that forced the kidnappers to abandon their victim and flee.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, SP Bright Edafe, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, September 4, 2026, as the Command also announced the arrest of eight suspects and recovery of three locally made pistols and suspected illicit drugs in Abraka.
According to Edafe, the incident occurred at about 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 2, when the woman was ambushed by armed men at the entrance of her residence along Eko-Amukpe Road while attempting to drive into her compound.
He said the attackers fired several shots into the air before taking the woman into a nearby bush.
Following the distress report, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Sapele Division mobilised patrol and surveillance teams to the area, where operatives recovered spent AK-47 ammunition shells.
The police, assisted by local vigilantes, subsequently began a search of the surrounding bushes which continued through the night and into the morning of Thursday, September 3.
Edafe said the sustained search mounted pressure on the kidnappers, causing them to abandon the victim and escape from the area.
The woman was later found unharmed and reunited with her family, while police operatives intensified efforts to identify and apprehend the fleeing suspects.
In a separate operation in Abraka, operatives of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) arrested eight suspects in connection with an ongoing investigation into an attempted murder reported on September 3.
The operation, which followed what the police described as credible intelligence, targeted suspected criminal hideouts within the town.
Those arrested were identified as Evans Adamda, Mamatime Micheal, Wale Morakinya, Anabono, Godspower, Theophilus Philip, Robinson Oghenewiro and Inoni Ejiroghene.
Police said three locally made pistols, Tramadol and other suspected illicit drugs were recovered during the operation.
The suspects and recovered exhibits remain in police custody as investigators work to establish their alleged involvement in the attempted murder and other criminal activities in the area.
The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Samuel E. Erale, commended the police operatives and local vigilantes involved in the operations, describing the results as part of the Command’s continuing efforts to tackle kidnapping, violent crime, cultism and other criminal activities across the state.
Erale assured residents that the Command would sustain intelligence-led operations against criminal elements and continue efforts to identify and dismantle criminal hideouts and recover illicit weapons.
He also appealed to members of the public to provide the police with timely and credible information that could assist in preventing crime and apprehending offenders.
