Troops of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) have said they foiled two kidnap attempts and rescued two kidnap victims from the hands of their abductors in one of the incidents and arrested two kidnappers in another incident.
Operation Whirl Stroke is the military spike operation in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states.
OPWS said it foiled an attempted kidnap in Zaki-Biam, Ukum Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State and arrested two of the kidnappers.
In another foiled attempt in Wukari LGA of Taraba State, the troops rescued two kidnap victims, but were unable to apprehend the suspects who are still at large.
This was contained in a statement signed by the OPWS spokesman, Flight Lieutenant Audu Hussaini Katty, and made available to Daily Independent in Makurdi on Sunday.
He said, “Acting on a credible human intelligence on activities of kidnappers, on 2nd December, 2022, troops of Operation Whirl Stroke deployed to Zaki-Biam swiftly mobilised and moved to the kidnap scene and arrested two notorious kidnappers named Kperai Daniel And Kanyitor Chiangi.
“The two criminals were known to have specialized in kidnapping locals for ransom. They are currently undergoing investigation after which they would be handed over to the relevant authorities for prosecution.
“In a related development, troops of Operation Whirl Stroke rescued two kidnap victims from their abductors.
“The victims, Mr Gunda Hemenga and Sunday Saatyo, were abducted and taken into the bush (by the kidnappers) on 3rd December, 2022 along Rafin Kada-Kado road of Bom village in Wukari LGA of Taraba State.”