A civil society organization, Civil and Human Rights Accountability Network (CHRAN), has commended the Department of State Service (DSS) for preventing major kidnappings in Akwa Ibom during the ongoing Eid El-Kabir festivities.
According to credible security sources, DSS smashed a sea pirate gang linked to the November 2024 kidnap of two Chinese nationals and a Nigerian staff of MarkSino quarry in Cross River State.
During that attack, the kidnappers shot dead a Police Inspector attached to the workers, and carted away his AK-47 rifle.
CHRAN State Director, Otuekong Franklyn Isong, described the arrest by DSS as a major breakthrough in the crackdown on criminals terrorizing his state and the South-South zone.
The arrest of the four gang leaders, who were also linked to the kidnap of big business owners and paramount traditional rulers in Uyo, Eket, and Oron axis as well as other neighbouring states in the South South, for some time, highlighted the resolve of the DSS to secure Nigerians throught its sustained covert operations.
The source disclosed further that, during a covert operation at the weekend, DSS arrested four commanders of the gang with two AK-47 rifles and six fully-loaded magazines at their hideout in Oron.
The gang members, according to preliminary security reports, invaded the State, targeting to kidnap top politicians who attended the formal defection ceremony of His Excellency Governor Umo Eno from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), an event that coincided with the Eid El-Kabir holiday.
The history of the operations of this notorious gang primarily involved targeting high-ranking expatriate staff of oil companies, high net worth business owners and paramount traditional rulers across the South-South geo-political Zone.
Commending the DSS for the feat, CHRAN called on DSS not to relent in executing such covert operations as they are strategically needed to drastically reduce this protracted menace.