Police scuttle N14m ransom payment, arrested suspects confess to crime
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Police have enlisted local hunters to rescue one Semiu Ogunniyi who was kidnapped from a hotel in Ikare-Akoko in Akoko North Council of Ondo for whose freedom the abductors had demanded N14 million.
Police Commissioner Wilfred Afolabi, who broke news of the rescue, disclosed that one of the suspected kidnappers, Muhammed Babuga, was arrested during the rescue operation.
Afolabi said the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N14 million for the release of the victim, after which the movement of the suspects was trailed through intelligence.
During the interception, he narrated, the suspects engaged police in a fierce gun duel, with several suspects sustaining gunshot injuries in the exchange of fire.
Afolabi, who spoke at Ondo Police Command headquarters in Akure, said two suspected kidnappers – Ibrahim Umar, 25, and Paul Osanyinduro, 38 – were arrested in Owo and Abubakar Bamoh, 30, a logistics provider for kidnappers terrorising various parts of the South West, was also arrested.
He added: “Command also arrested 3 suspected kidnappers who have confessed to their involvement in various kidnapping cases across the state. This operation marks yet another success in the Command’s ongoing offensive against kidnapping and violent crime in the state.
“Acting on credible intelligence regarding the activities of one Abubakar Bamoh, male, aged 30 years, an indigene of Bunza Local Government Area of Kebbi State, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Command swung into action and successfully apprehended the suspect at one of the Fulani camps in Igbara-Oke, Ondo State.”
Read also:
Terrorists murder APC chieftain despite receiving N5m ransom demanded
