Police rescue woman from suspected ritualists in Abuja hotel

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command said it has rescued a young woman from the clutches of suspected ritualists at a hotel in Abuja. The Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, who stated this over the weekend, said the command had commenced a manhunt for the fleeing suspect. He said the incident happened at […]

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command said it has rescued a young woman from the clutches of suspected ritualists at a hotel in Abuja.

The Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, who stated this over the weekend, said the command had commenced a manhunt for the fleeing suspect.

He said the incident happened at approximately 11:30am on Saturday, when the command received a distress call from a hotel in the Wuse area of the FCT of a suspicious activity in one of their rooms.

He said the police operatives swiftly arrived at the scene and discovered a 25-year-old woman, Promise Eze, from Ebonyi State, tied to a small chair with her mouth covered in plaster.

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He said the woman was found unconscious and in distress and the officers acted immediately by freeing her from captivity and rushed her to Wuse District Hospital, where she was resuscitated.

He said preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had checked into the hotel a day earlier, at about 7am in the company of a man, who identified himself as Emmanuel Okoro from Lagos State.

He said, “However, during police questioning, the victim disclosed that she had met the suspect online, where he introduced himself under the alias Michael Prince, claiming to be an oil company employee based in Delta State. Initially, he invited her to Delta, but after she declined, they agreed to meet in Abuja.

‘’Unfortunately, what was meant to be an innocent meeting turned into a harrowing ordeal after the suspect allegedly brandished a dagger, using it to threaten and subdue the victim before restraining her by tying her hands and legs and taping her mouth inside the bathroom.”

He said the suspect later fled from the hotel with the woman’s two mobile phones, even as he said the victim overheard the suspect speaking to suspected accomplices over the phone, informing them that he was on his way to regroup before returning to the hotel to “finish the job.”

The police commissioner said after recognising the gravity of such a heinous act, the command launched a full-scale manhunt for the suspect.

CP Disu, while condemning such acts of violence, urged residents to be always cautious when meeting individuals they do not know personally.