Gunmen kidnap commissioner, 5 others *Demand N50m ransom * Police, soldiers launch manhunt
THE Anambra state Commissioner of Police, Mr. John Haruna, says frantic efforts are being made to locate the state Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Ego Uzozie and five others kidnapped by unknown gunmen.
He said more than 200 mobile policemen and some soldiers have since been mobilised for the search.
Haruna told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Thursday in Onitsha that the commissioner, her son and four others were kidnapped by unknown gunmen on Wednesday.
He said reports available to the police showed that the motive behind the kidnap was basically financial.
Haruna said the kidnappers were demanding N50 million ransom from the state government.
He said the combined team of soldiers and police officers would comb every hideout in search of the commissioner, adding that no arrests had been made yet.
On her part, the state Commissioner for information, Prof. Stella Okunna, said the government is making consultations on how to rescue Uzozie from the kidnappers.
``We have got the report on the kidnap, but we are being careful and tactical.
Consultations are also going on and soon, by God's grace, we shall have result.
Issues of kidnap are always delicate matters, so we need to be careful," she added.
In another development, the state Police Commissioner further announced that both Oba and Ezinifite Police Stations in Idemili South and Nnewi South local council areas were burnt down by some hoodlums at the weekend.
He explained that some 30 hoodlums, who drove in three mini-buses, besieged the Oba police station and opened fire on officers on duty in a bid to release one of their notorious members in police custody.
Haruna said some of the officers were seriously injured, and that more than 22 suspects had been arrested.
He explained that in Ezinifite, Nnewi South, some misacreants attacked a divisional police station, killed an Inspector and beat the Divisional Police Officer to a state of unconsciousness.
The commissioner said the command was working out a strategy to discourage hoodlums from attacking its officers and invading police stations.
He said 28 policemen were killed, while eight police stations were burnt in the past one year in the state.