Residents of the Obazu community in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State are now living in fear and tension following the invasion of kidnappers who held the community hostage.

An indigene of the community who preferred to be called Lambert said that the criminals who stormed the community by 11 am on Sunday, had kidnapped three persons and in an attempt to ferry their victims out of the area started shooting sporadically to scare away members of the public.

A number of the youths who reacted to the incident said that the kidnappers operated unchallenged in their town for over three hours even when they blocked all the access roads to frustrate them from escaping and called the Police for rescue but to no avail.

Consequently, the kidnappers abandoned their operational vehicles when the youths blocked all the roads but took to walking to the extent that they even had to fix one of their faulty vehicles easily without counter from the police or any other security agents in the area.

In anger, the youths stormed the Mbieri Police station after the kidnappers had escaped and warned the police operatives not to arrest any indigene from their town henceforth since they couldn’t apprehend the criminals.

Reacting, the state police spokesman, CSP Michael Abattam who confirmed the report, told the Nation on Tuesday that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) has been sanctioned.

“What happened was that the youths of the area reported to the police that some kidnappers were seen in the community but before the police could get there the kidnappers had fled and the youths became restive, however, the DPO has been sanctioned,” he explained (The Nation)

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