By Laureta Akpan
CrossRiverWatch has reliably gathered that Policemen who were involved in the kidnap of a Lebanese national over the weekend have been rounded up by detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Calabar and are now detained at the police headquarters, Diamond Hill, Calabar.
The unidentified Lebanese was said to have been kidnapped by gunmen who seized him in Calabar and demanded the payment of fifty million Naira ransom to secure his release.
Detectives from the State CID, immediately mounted a hunt for the kidnappers and on rounding them up discovered they were Policemen.
A source in the police headquarters who spoke with CrossRiverWatch in anonymity said: “My brother, it is really a very pathetic matter I must say. Some of these boys just keep dragging the name of the police in the mud every now and then. The other time, it was the story of 14 policemen who killed six boys and called them robbers. Just when we are just trying to recover from that bad press, we are now embroiled in another round of controversy involving the kidnap of this foreigner.
“10 people that were involved in the kidnap have been arrested and are in detention. Yes, policemen are involved. But I can assure you that in the same manner the police dealt with the issue of the Killer Cops like you journalists called it, the police will also deal with this one too. The law will take its course. That has been clearly demonstrated by the appointment of a very senior officer, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, as the IPO in the matter.”
When CrossRiverWatch contacted the State Police PRO, Mr. Hogan Bassey to confirm the incident, he simply said: “We are planning to brief the Press tomorrow, you can come around. The event is taking place tomorrow. We are trying to put everything together to make it possible so that we don’t just brief one person or one media house alone. We want it to be open.”
CrossRiverWatch further gathered that there have been spirited efforts by government sources to cover up the kidnap from the Press in order not to allow what they described as ‘bad publicity’ affect the turnout of tourists at the Obudu International Mountain Race scheduled for later in the month and the Carnival Calabar that spans the whole of December.
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