Key Points

• Immigration officer pays ransom before wife’s rescue.

• Joint team of Police and NIS storm kidnappers’ hideout.

• Victim’s family thanks community for swift response.

A dramatic rescue operation in Badagry on Tuesday night freed Mrs. Ladi Abel, wife of a senior Nigeria Immigration Service officer, after days in captivity.

The 45-year-old woman was abducted on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway while on her way to the Trade Fair Complex.

Confirming the rescue, Mr. Isaac Elijah, Public Relations Officer of the NIS, Seme Border Command, said the victim was freed around 11:45 p.m. at a swampy area in Ibereko.

He noted that the kidnappers fled moments before the arrival of security operatives.

“It took about 20 Immigration officers, 25 Police personnel, and members of the Ibereko community to rescue her,” Elijah said.

“The operation, led by DPO Folajimi Akosile of Badagry Police Station, was well-coordinated, though no arrests were made.”

Immigration officer pays ransom before rescue

The victim’s husband, Abel Mada, a senior Immigration officer, revealed that he paid N2.5 million to the kidnappers before learning of his wife’s release.

“They initially demanded N3 million,” he said. “I paid N500,000 in the afternoon and another N2 million later in the evening.

I was still trying to raise the remaining N500,000 when I got the call that she had been rescued.”

His daughter, Naomi Abel, narrated how her mother was taken at Torikoh Bus Stop by kidnappers using two commercial buses.

“They sprayed a white substance that made passengers unconscious and took about 15 people,” she said.

Family thankful for community and police support

Naomi expressed gratitude to the Police, Immigration officers, and the Ibereko community for their quick response, which she said saved her family from more financial distress.

She also alleged that some abducted individuals appeared to be working with the kidnappers, highlighting how deeply organized the gang seemed.

The incident adds to growing concerns about kidnapping along the Lagos-Badagry corridor and raises calls for stronger surveillance and community-based policing to protect commuters.