Why we shot suspected kidnappers in their genitals — Nigerian Police

The police have acknowledged the authenticity of an internet video that shows suspected kidnappers writhing at the back of a police van and struggling to breathe after being shot in their private parts by officers.

The police said the suspects were the first to fire at officers attached to the Intelligence Response Team when they attempted to free an abducted victim in Abia State last week.

“In the course of the shootout, some of the kidnappers sustained injuries and were overpowered,” Abia police spokesperson, Geoffrey Ogbonna, told Premium Times in response to an enquiry about the video which was obtained by Sahara Reporters.

Mr. Ogbonna, a deputy superintendent of police, put the number of the suspects at ‘over seven’ and vaguely identified the victim as a 76-year-old man with a history of hypertension.

The victim was rescued but later died at the hospital, having allegedly been tortured by the kidnappers in their den, Mr. Ogbonna said.

The officers recovered AK-47 guns, ammunition and three vehicles from the suspects. The video is believed to have been shot on December 11 or 12. Sahara Reporters published it Thursday night to an outraged audience.

Some officers surrounded a truck marked as belonging to the police in Abia State and in which the suspected had been crammed.

“You wan turn millionaire overnight, bah?” an officer asked rhetorically in Nigerian Pidgin. “You want to get rich quick.”

“This one wants to die,” another voice said in an apparent interjection. “Na death e dey wait for like this; e dey struggle the thing.”

The Nigerian police have for years faced persistent allegations of human rights abuses, and the new video could strengthen the poor public perception of the force.

- Premium Times