Operation Kosaye kills 4, arrests 4 bandits after daredevil abduction on Ogun Expressway

More information has emerged from the joint security offensive code-named Operation Kosaye, which stormed Ogun forests following the daredevil daylight abduction of travellers on the Ijebu Ode-Ore axis of the federal highway on Thursday.

Four suspected bandits were reportedly killed in the forest, while four others were arrested after the police engaged the outlaws in a shootout. Five travellers were rescued.

The breakthrough was officially announced on Saturday at the Police Training School in Iperu, Remo, during a joint press briefing held by the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, CP Bode Ojajuni, and his Lagos State counterpart, CP Fatai Tijani.

Operation Kosaye—a Yoruba phrase translating to “No Hiding Place for Criminals”—was directly ordered by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Tunji Disu, to aggressively reclaim transit highways and forest reserves from armed gangs.

Operation Kosaye scoured the forest for 25 hours

The dramatic rescue operation unfolded after a heavily armed bandit cell staged a violent ambush along the Ogbere axis of the Sagamu-Ore Expressway on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

A video of the immediate aftermath of the attack has since gone viral.

The criminals reportedly shot directly at two oncoming transit vehicles, hitting a woman on the arm in one of the vehicles. They proceeded to abduct five travellers; three of the victims were travelling toward Lagos, while the remaining two were bound for Ibadan. 

The victims were marched into the deep thickets of the Ogbere J3 forest reserve.

Upon learning of the assault, combined tactical squads from the Lagos and Ogun State Police Commands rapidly mobilised. 

Operatives initiated a relentless, gruelling bush-combing operation that lasted from Thursday night until 4:00 PM on Friday.

The police cornered the syndicate deep inside the forest, sparking a fierce gun battle. Officers neutralised four of the kidnappers on the spot, forcing the remaining gang members to abandon their camp. 

All five hostages—four women and one man—were extracted alive, and the injured female victim was rushed to a nearby medical facility for emergency treatment.

88 suspects rounded up in massive highway sweep

CP Bode Ojajuni revealed that preliminary operations leading up to Saturday’s official launch targeted several notorious flashpoints, including the Lagos-Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode Expressway up to Ajebandele (the boundary between Ogun and Ondo states), the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Lagos-Epe corridor, and the Ikorodu axis.

Beyond the termination of the Ogbere kidnap cell, the joint task force arrested 88 criminal suspects, including nine women, who are currently undergoing rigorous interrogation. 

The suspects are implicated in offences ranging from armed robbery and violent cultism to directly aiding and abetting kidnapping rings. 

Police also recovered an assortment of firearms, live ammunition, and combat machetes from the raided forest hideouts.

Two of the victims, Temi Faith and Jimoh Gbadamosi, said the bandits demanded N70m ransom from each of the victims and later reduced it to N30m.

According to them, a total of three vehicles were violently stopped by the bandits, with five victims abducted. They told journalists that they were forced to trek for more than four hours after they were abducted around 4 pm on Thursday. 

“No hiding place” along the south-west borders

The high-powered operation enjoys the strong logistical backing of both Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, who recently boosted border patrol resources.

Addressing travellers and residents who may notice an increased security presence, CP Ojajuni urged the public to remain calm. 

“We urge members of the public not to panic whenever they notice heavy deployment or movement of police personnel,” Ojajuni stated, emphasising that the aggressive forest sweeps will be sustained until all transit corridors linking the two economic hubs are entirely cleared of criminal elements.

See a video of the immediate aftermath of the bandits’ strike on Thursday on our Telegram channel.

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