Gunmen kidnapped two-year-old girl in Akwa Ibom

Three unknown gunmen have abducted a two-year-old girl, Patience Essiet, in Ukat Ubium, Nsit Ubium Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

The mother of the abducted girl, Ms. Affiong Tommy, 20, said the gunmen, who also brandished machetes, broke into the room through the back door around 4am on Wednesday. Continue..

She said the gunmen first broke into her brother’s room, kicked him on the legs and asked him to lie still. She added that they threatened to shoot him if he tried to shout or move away from the scene.

Tommy explained that immediately the two other gunmen left her brother’s room, they went straight into her room, where her daughter and mother, were also sleeping.

She said the gunmen, who were in plain clothes, claimed to be police officers, who had been sent by their Divisional Police Officer to conduct a drug search in their house.

She said, “We heard when they hit our backdoor open with axe. They were three, brandishing guns, machetes and axes. They first entered my brother’s room; we thought they were thieves. They beat him and asked him to lie still as they threatened to shoot him if he tried to move away from the room or shout.

“Two came into our room. Immediately they saw my baby, they grabbed her. I tried to struggle with them to rescue my baby from their grips, and when they noticed that they were not having it easy with me, they slammed my back and that of my mother with machetes. They also pointed guns at our foreheads as we fell to the floor. I saw my baby being taken away in front of me.

“None of us were able to chase them after they had left with my baby. We were not able to go out to identify what vehicle they came with; besides the darkness, my brother, mother, and I were on the floor trying to regain consciousness from the beatings.

“They claimed to be police officers, why did they force our backdoor open at the ungodly hour of 4 am? Where have they gone with my child? Let them not kill my child.”

According to Tommy, the gunmen did not take anything from the house. She noted that they came for her baby.

A sister to Tommy, Mrs. Iquo Bassey, said she received a call from her sister that three unidentified gunmen stormed our village house and took Essiet from her in the presence of my mother, Mrs. Affiong Akpan.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Etim Dickson, said he was in a conference.

He, however, asked our correspondent to send him a text message so that he could make contact with DPO at Nsit Ubium police station.

He was yet to respond as at the time of filing this report