Bayelsa State Police Command has secured the release of one Corporal Lucky Ebebi who reportedly survived last Friday violent attack on the boat conveying some policemen to Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw council area in which twelve policemen were killed.
31-year-old Ebebi, an indigene of Esama in Delta State, who was believed to have been killed in the ambush attack by the gunmen which claimed the lives of 12 policemen, was on Wednesday night discovered alive and rescued by the police after allegedly paying a ransom of N1m.
The policeman was freed alongside one Indonesian in the swamp of Ukubie.
Reports say another expatriate identified as a Greek national died in the ex-militants’ den.
Ebebi was after regaining his freedom admitted at the Emergency Ward of the Federal Medical Centre where he was treated for minor gunshot injury and discharged Thursday morning, after which he was said to have reported at the state police headquarters, Yenagoa for debriefing.
“Ebebi was treated for minor bruises and discharged,” a doctor at the Federal Medical Centre said. Another FMC staff confirmed the development saying the police corporal was brought in Wednesday night.
The gunmen kidnapped Ebebi after killing others and took him to a militant camp in the creek, a source said.
“The process of negotiating for the release of the police corporal revealed the existence of over seven armed militant camps along Lobia, Azuzuama and other communities in the Southern Ijaw council area of the state.
“The police went for their own Lucky Ebebi but they discovered two other expatriates in the den of the kidnappers who were supposed to be beneficiaries of the ongoing Amnesty deal by the Federal Government,” the source said.
He added that the expatriates were suspected to be a Greek and an Indonesian but could not ascertain the one that died in the kidnappers den.
