The news reaching us from Governor Dapo Abiodun’s state has claimed that nine men suspected to be kidnappers, have been apprehended in Ogun State.
The Ogun State Police Command said the suspects were “members of a notorious kidnap syndicate terrorising residents of Ogun State.”
The command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the syndicate used to operate along the Abeokuta-Ayetoro road, where many residents had been kidnapped and made to pay millions in ransom.
According to Oyeyemi, the suspects were arrested Sunday at their hideout in Abule Oba, off Ayetoro Road, Abeokuta.
They were captured by policemen, who Oyeyemi said, were supported by local hunters, operatives of the So-safe Corps, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), the Amotekun Corps and local vigilantes.
Oyeyemi identified the suspects as Hammed Taiwo, Kehinde Jimoh, Ali Morandu, Sanda Aliu, Umar Sanda, Usman Mohammed, Usman Abubakar, Umaru Ahmadu and Umaru Momodu.
We gathered that the suspects’ arrest followed credible intelligence at the disposal of policemen at Sabo/Ilupeju divisional headquarters.
The police had garnered information that two of the suspects, Hammed Taiwo and Kehinde Jimoh, were the kidnappers’ errand boys, operating on motorcycles.
He disclosed that the suspects were sighted somewhere in the Rounder area of Abeokuta North, to where the DPO of Sabo/Ilupeju, SP Mustapha Opawoye, quickly mobilised his men and got them arrested.
During interrogation, Oyeyemi said the duo of Taiwo and Kehinde confessed to being part of the syndicate, “but their own role is to run errands and watch the environment to prevent law enforcement agents from getting to them unawares.”
Their confession, Oyeyemi explained, led to the discovery of the group’s hideout at Abule Oba, “where they always meet after collecting ransom from their victims.”
“Having discovered the hideout, the DPO mobilized his men, So-safe corps, OPC men, local hunters and men of Amotekun corps and subsequently stormed the place where all the nine members of the syndicate were arrested,” Oyeyemi said.
It was learnt that some kidnap victims have identified the suspects as their abductors.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the Anti-kidnapping section of the State CIID, appreciating the security agencies for the success of the intelligence-based operation.