The Lagos State Police Command, on Friday, confirmed the killing of nine suspects planning to kidnap some wealthy individuals in various areas in the state.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin disclosed this during a parade at the command Headquarters in the Ikeja area of the state, saying that the command had been trailing the suspects for the past eight months.

He explained that upon receiving intelligence about their operations two weeks ago, the State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade directed the command’s tactical teams to commence work on it.

He 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 Adegoke 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 the 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. The kidnappers who were caught unawares would not give up easily as they engaged the police officers in a shoot-out.”

The state PPRO added that “they of course bowed to the superior firepower of the police. Nine of them were neutralised while two escaped with gunshot injuries. Four AK-47 rifles, four locally-made semiautomatic pistols, nine AK47 magazines, three walkie-talkies, one POS machine and a loudspeaker were recovered from them.”

Hundeyin said two operational vehicles including one black Toyota 4Runner and a blue Lexus RX350 were recovered from the suspects, noting that the investigation was ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects. He said, “It is worthy of note that the command had been on the trail of this gang for the past eight months for their numerous kidnapping of wealthy individuals in the Isolo, Okota, Ejigbo and Ladipo areas of Lagos State. We are proud to declare that their reign of terror has effectively come to an end.

“This breakthrough is in addition to several other breakthroughs we have made in recent times in identifying and apprehending gangs of kidnappers and armed robbers while planning their crimes. Many of these were not made public to protect the identity of members of the public that made the information available.”

The police spokesperson urged “everyone including medical practitioners to be on the lookout for anyone with gunshot injuries and promptly inform the nearest police station or call any of our emergency numbers if they come across any,” while also requesting residents of the state “not to hesitate in giving us information when they suspect anything amiss around them.”

Pictures of the corpses were sighted on a patrol vehicle at the command headquarters as the gun, bullets and Army uniforms reportedly recovered from the suspects were also sighted by our correspondent.