The suspects killed are Eze Ogugua, a 24-year-old interior decorator,  24-year-old Onyema Biggy and Lucky Onochie.

The three suspects were allegedly shot dead by the Police during a shoot-out along Ogwashi-Uku/Issele-Azagba Road.

According to the Command’s acting public relations officer, Charles Muka, a deputy superintendent of Police, Onyema who leads the group, had organized his partners to kidnap his 81-year-old relative, Young Norbert Okafor, on January 16, 2014 while he was going for morning mass.

He said Okafor was seized at his compound by five gunmen who bundled him into his dark ash-coloured Mercedes Benz car with registration number BF 499 KTU and whisked his to an unknown destination.

Muka told journalists that the suspected kidnappers initially demanded for the sum of N16 million from the family members, which they later reduced to N850, 000 during negotiation.

He said the police, acting on information, engaged the unsuspected kidnappers in a fierce gun duel at the point of collecting the ransom, leading to the death of all the three suspects.

The Force PRO however, said that the suspects had made confessional statements about their respective roles in the kidnap saga before they were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Asaba where they were later confirmed dead.

Meanwhile, irate youths in Ogwashi-Uku went on rampage to the residents of the deceased suspects and razed their properties.

The Police urged the youths not to take the laws into their hands, warning that those caught would be dealt with according to the law.