By ERHUVWU APUMAMI

Banks in Ughelli, the headquarters of Ughelli North Local Government Area on Friday abruptly halted their services to customers over a foiled kidnap attempt at the Ughelli branch of a second generation bank.

It was gathered that during the early hours of the afternoon, troops of the Nigerian Army who were said to be on a routine patrol, responded to a distress call and foiled a kidnap attempt by armed kidnappers in UBA, Ughelli.

Eye witnesses account that the criminals who launched an attack on their unsuspecting victim in the premise of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in an attempt to abduct him, met with ill fate as the troops who were quickly alerted by unknown persons, were said to have swiftly intervened and averted the situation which led to the death of three members of the alleged kidnap gang whose corpses have also been evacuated to the morgue.

Following the situation, commercial banks today abruptly shut down operations for security reasons.

Our correspondent who went around some commercial banks, observed that they were under lock and key. Security guards were seen manning the gates of banks and efforts to get an official response from some of the banks proved abortive as officials only gave sketchy comments.

Customers who were seen outside some of the bank premises lamented their inability to gain entrance into the bank to withdraw cash, noting that it would cause some forms of hardship to them and their families since it was weekend. (Delta State News Bulletin)