Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on
Thursday summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over
the kidnap of two German archaeologists, Peter Breunig and Johannes
Behringer, in Kadarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
A
source told the News Agency of Nigeria that the police chief briefed the
Acting President on efforts so far made by police to rescue the victims
unhurt and apprehend the kidnappers.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Germans were kidnapped and how two Nigerians who tried to rescue them were killed in the process.
Usman
Kagarko, a witness who joined many others in going after the
assailants, said their effort ended when the kidnappers turned back and
opened fire. “We had to scamper for our safety when they opened fire,
shooting sporadically at us, killing two local hunters who were in our
lead as we chased them on our motorcycles and on foot,” ,” he told
PREMIUM TIMES. “If only we are armed or in company of armed security, we
would have stopped them because they are on foot.” He gave the names of the two victims as Anas Ibrahim and Adamu Abdulrahim.
He said many locals were familiar with the Germans who for many years frequently travelled from Abuja to Kaduna for their work.
“So
we felt personally concerned that this very friendly foreigners are
innocently abducted by criminals under our nose,” he said.
The
police have since dispatched a team of special forces and to work in
synergy with the police command in Kaduna State and indigenes of towns
and surrounding villages where the archaeologists were kidnapped. The
special force deployed comprise the Intelligence Response Team (IRT),
the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU), the Anti Kidnapping Unit, the
Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), the Police Mobile Force and Police
Surveillance Helicopters.
The Special Investigation Team on
Kidnapping and Terrorism Cases under the Command of the Deputy Inspector
General of Police, Department of Operations, is also participating in
the rescue operation. The kidnapped archaeologists, working in
collaboration with National Commission for Museum and Monument on the
relics of NOK Culture in Nigeria, were kidnapped on Wednesday morning at
an excavation site in Kadarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
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