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Tag: Kidnappers

  • Why we killed abducted Rivers pastor after collecting N5m ransom – Kidnappers

    Why we killed abducted Rivers pastor after collecting N5m ransom – Kidnappers

    A four-member kidnap gang has confessed to the Rivers State Police Command how they abducted a general overseer of a Pentecostal church, collected the sum of N500, 000 ransom for his release but still killed him.

    The suspects were arrested by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the command following intelligence gathering.

    The kidnappers, who narrated the incident when they took policemen to the shallow grave where they buried the clergyman, Pastor Friday Olakada, General Overseer of God is God Ministries, said that they decided to take his life because he recognised one of them.

    The remains of the 56 years old victim, who hailed from Agbonchia Community in Eleme Local Government Area, were exhumed by the Rivers State Police Command from Lorre community in Khana Local Government Area where he was buried.

    The father of six was kidnapped on 14 May, 2021 when the suspects who pretended to be passengers asked him to pick them on a ‘drop’ with his Sienna car.

    According to one of the suspects, Prince Odi, 27 who spoke on behalf of the others, they agreed to kill the victim because he recognized one of them.

  • BREAKING: Police rescue abducted Benue Commissioner’s wife, shoot three kidnappers dead

    BREAKING: Police rescue abducted Benue Commissioner’s wife, shoot three kidnappers dead

    Men of the Police Elite Squad Operation Zenda in Benue State on Monday rescued the wife of the Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Mrs. Ann Unenge.

    During the rescue operation, three kidnappers were killed by the police.

    Mrs. Unenge was kidnapped on Saturday.

    The state governor, Samuel Ortom had confirmed the incident to journalists in Markudi, where he called on the Federal Government to clamp down on bandits and kidnappers.

    He expressed concerns over the growing cases of kidnapping and other organised crimes across the country, asking the Federal Government to take on them heads-on.

    He assured that all hands will be on deck to ensure the release of the victim.

    “We are working together with the security agencies. You don’t just review security matters sometimes because you will be exposing the victim,” Governor Ortom said.

    “Throughout yesterday night and today, my security adviser is here and we are working with some conventional and unconventional security, they will be released.”

    Governor Ortom also expressed optimism that the nation would surmount all her security challenges.

  • We don’t need your N10m chicken change, Kidnappers tell family of abducted Kogi Pharmacist

    We don’t need your N10m chicken change, Kidnappers tell family of abducted Kogi Pharmacist

    Emman Ovuakporie

    The abductors of Alhaji Abdulazeez Obajimoh, the Managing Director of AZECO pharmacy in Okene, Kogi State took a new twist as the bandits rejected the N10 million ransom offered by his family, insisting on N30 million to secure his freedom.

    The Pharmacist was abducted by gunmen in Iruvucheba community in Okenne local government area of Kogi State, on Sunday afternoon, July 11.

    According to a family source, the kidnappers called on Thursday to make demand for a ransom and rejected the initial N10 million ransom offered by the family, calling it “chicken change”

    The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Kogi State chapter, had earlier decried the incessant attacks and abduction of its members across the state.

    The state chairman of PSN, Dr Lawal Muhammed, urged the perpetrators and the general public not to see pharmacists as being rich, adding that “most of the money invested in pharmaceuticals are loans from banks.”

    Mohammed also called on the state government and security agencies to map out strategies to curb the menace.

  • Police arrest pastor after church service for allegedly collecting ransom for kidnappers

    Police arrest pastor after church service for allegedly collecting ransom for kidnappers

    A 45-year-old pastor, Ndifreke Udo Amos, has been arrested by operatives of the FIB Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT) for allegedly helping a kidnap gang in the abduction of an 80-year-old man, Pa Anthony Ugbuzor Idornigie.

    The octogenarian victim was said to be sitting in his house at No 7, Garage Street, Itoki, Lagos on November 14 last year when Amos walked in with a bible in his hand and started preaching to him.

    In the middle of Amos’ sermon, another stranger was said to have walked into the compound and claimed to be in search of accommodation. Pa Idornigie was said to have offered him one, but the stranger said he should follow him to collect the amount demanded as rent because he did not have the money on him.

    While Pa Idornigie was said to have been reluctant about following the stranger, Pastor Amos allegedly urged him to do so. In the process of following the stranger, however, Pa Idornigie was abducted by some people the police now believe were working in cahoots with the pastor.

    Three days later, Pa Idornigie’s abductors were said to have called the family, demanding N20 million as ransom.

    The police was said to have become curious about Pa Amos’ involvement in the kidnap saga on realising that a POS account belonging to him was being used by the gang to receive the sums paid in installments as ransom.

    FIB-IRT operatives were said to have swung into action immediately they learnt about Pa Idornigie’s plight, rescuing the octogenarian from his abductors and tracing Amos to Agbado/Crossing part of Lagos State where his POS kiosk was situated.

    The police source said investigation into the matter revealed that Pastor Amos was a member of the gang with the specific role of going to the houses of would be victims to prepare the ground for their abduction.

    Members of Idornigie’s family were said to have paid various installments beginning with N850,000 on November 17, 2020. Other payments made to the gang, according to the police source, include another N850,000, N250,000, N50,000, N50,000, N200,000, N650,000, N350,000 and N150,000.

    The last payment of N150,000 to the said account was said to have been made by the police themselves and tagged “payment for ransom” after the matter had been reported by the family; a development said to have made Amos very uncomfortable.

    A visit the FIB-IRT operatives made to Amos’ kiosk was said not to have yielded any result as they met Amos’ absence. They were, however, told upon enquiries that Amos was the pastor in charge of a nearby church where a service was going on.

    The operatives then joined the congregation for service during which they monitored the suspect and planned how to arrest him without causing a steer or disrupting the service.

    They were said to have allowed the service to end before they started following Amos to his house without him suspecting that they were on his trail.

    He was eventually picked up in a dramatic manner as he was about to enter his house.

    The operatives were said to have stopped him as he was about to get into his compound, flashed their identity cards and told him that he was under arrest. Thereafter, they told him to lead them to his POS kiosk where they recovered some vital documents, including those that were used in transactions involving the kidnapping gang.

    Amos was said to have admitted ownership of the account number into which the ransom of N150,000 was paid, and upon interrogation at the Southwest office of FIB-IRT headed by Joel Igbinazaka Ugowe, a Superintendent of Police, he was also said to have confessed that he removed the female attendant at the POS kiosk, and conducted the transaction himself because he feared that the secret deals could become known to the young lady.

    Explaining his side of the story to reporters, Amos said: “I am a pastor with The Will of God Gospel Mission church in Agbado/Crossing, a suburb of Lagos State, and my residence is very close to the church.

    “I became a pastor in 2015 and I have been with the church since then. I was not on salary, but the General Overseer pays me a monthly stipend as upkeep money and also pays my children’s school fees.

    “Rich men and women as well as others who God has blessed in one way or the other also give me money, especially when they are giving testimonies and thanking God for what He did for them.”

    Asked why he displayed his account number on his POS kiosk, he said it was so that his customers who had need of it would have access and not for criminal purposes.

    He added: “I was riding a commercial motorcycle to augment the upkeep money my General Overseer was giving me.

    “In 2019, my General Overseer and founder of the church gave me N300,000 to start a POS business and I started it between September and October.

    “I reside very close to my church, so I put a female operator there because I would not be able to do the two works at the same time.”

    On the allegation that he sacked the lady attendant at his kiosk because he feared that she could leak his deals with kidnappers, he said: “I did not sack the girl. I only told her that I wanted to manage the POS by myself because from what was happening, I felt she would not be able to manage the problems with the operation of POS.”

    He also denied being the one that gave the kidnappers his account number, saying: “Yes, it was my account details that were sent to the victim’s family to pay in the ransom. But I was not the one who sent it and I did not know who sent it.

    “I pasted my account details in front of my POS kiosk for easy access by my customers who might have need for it. I did not paste it there for criminal purposes.

    “Eight hundred and fifty thousand naira (#850,000) was paid twice through my POS. They had started paying in money when my girl was still operating the POS for me. They were paying bit by bit: N25,000, N50,000, N50,000, N100,000, N200,000 and so on.

    “The one of N150,000, I was in the church when she called me and said the customer was in a hurry and asked me whether the money had entered and I said yes I saw an alert with ‘ransom demand’.

    “I had to call her back to explain more because I suspected that something was fishy with the tag ‘ransom demand’.

    “I later went to the nearest police station to report the strange occurrence. When I got there and reported the matter, the police gave me a sheet to write a statement.

    “After writing my statement, they asked me to go home and relax and see it as one of the troubles one usually experiences in that kind of business.

    “But to my greatest surprise, on the 24th February, 2021, the same police officer who asked me to go home and relax was the person who came and arrested me.

    He took me to the police station and handed me over to plain-clothed operatives who had been there waiting for my arrival at the police station.

    “They were very happy to see me, and that was how I was arrested.”

  • Kidnappers abduct 38-year-old man in Jigawa, demand N60m

    Kidnappers abduct 38-year-old man in Jigawa, demand N60m

    The Police in Jigawa said kidnappers have abducted a 38-year-old man in Kiyawa Local Government Area of the state.

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Jigawa Police Command, ASP Lawan Shiisu, confirmed the incident to newsmen in Dutse on Wednesday.

    Shiisu said the suspects allegedly abducted the victim identified as Lawan Zakar at his residence at Dankoli quarters, on July 17.

    “On July 17, at about 5:50 a.m., one Aliyu Zakar of Dankoli quarters in Kiyawa LGA came to the police station and reported that:

    “On the same date at about 3 a.m., a gang of five criminals jumped into the house of his brother one Lawal Zakar, aged 38, of the same address.

    “The suspects demanded for 60 million from him whereas it was N60,000 that was brought to him on the fateful night by his boy.”

    He explained that the suspects ransacked the whole house, seized the phone of the victim and those of his wives.

    The PPRO added that the suspects, who used a car, later took the victim away.

    According to him, efforts were on top gear to rescue the victim, as well as arrest the suspects.

    Recall that suspected gunmen had on July 14, kidnapped a 47-year-old housewife in Marke village, Kaugama Local Government Area of the state.

  • Five kidnap suspects set ablaze in Edo

    Five kidnap suspects set ablaze in Edo

    Five suspected kidnappers were on Sunday set ablaze by angry youths along the Afuze- Uokha Road in Owan West Local Government of Edo State.

    The suspects were said to have attacked and abducted some travellers alond the lonely road and took them inside the forest.

    However, luck ran out of the kidnappers as they were arrested by vigilantes who brought them out of the forest.

    The angry youths, on sighting the criminals, took them from the vigilantes and burnt them to death.

    It was gathered that the kidnappers took the travellers into the bush without knowing that the vigilantes who got wind of the occurrence had mobilised to chase them.

    “The kidnappers would have been contacting the families of the abducted travellers to ask for ransom if not for the bravery of the vigilantes, while residents, who were fed up with the criminal activities of these kidnappers set them on fire and left them to get burnt to death,” the source said.

    Spokesman of the state police command, SP Bello Kontongs, who confirmed the incident, said investigation is ongoing.

    According to him, “After the kidnap, the vigilantes went in search of the criminals who they apprehended in the bush.

    “As they were coming out in Uokha Community on their way to the police station, angry youths in Uokha and adjoining towns took away the suspected kidnappers from the vigilantes.

    “All efforts to get the suspects to the police proved abortive as they were burnt to death.”

  • Niger governor assents to laws recommending death sentence for kidnappers, informants

    Niger governor assents to laws recommending death sentence for kidnappers, informants

    Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, has assented to some laws in accordance with Section 100(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

    The Laws include: The Kidnapping and Cattle Rustling (Special Provisions) Law, 2021, the Niger State Vigilante Corps (Amendment) Law, 2021; the Niger State House of Assembly Service Commission Law, 2020, the Office of the Auditor-General of the State Law, 2021 and the Office of the Auditor General of the Local Government Law, 2021

    Governor Bello said the Kidnapping and Cattle Rustling Special Provisions Law of 2016 is amended to provide for the punishment of informants and all those involved in the aiding and abetting of kidnapping and Cattle Rustling in the state.

    The Governor stated that informants who aid and abet Kidnappers would now have to face a death sentence by hanging in public as now enshrined in the state law.

    According to him, the law now provides that “whoever instigates any person to kidnap a person or rustle cattle, or intentionally aides, abets or facilitate by any acts of omission or commission of the offence of kidnapping and or Cattle Rustling is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to death by hanging in public”

    Bello said the punitive measure is a good stride and has become necessary given the security challenges that have continued to threaten the peaceful coexistence of the state in particular and the country in general.

    He regretted the unpatriotic activities of informants who, according to him, have contributed to thwarting efforts of the security agencies in combating the nefarious activities of Kidnappers and Cattle Rustlers.

    He also noted that the Vigilante Amendment Law is meant to invigorate and strengthen the state vigilante corp for better operational efficiency in the discharge of their statutory function of complementing the efforts of our conventional federal security forces.

    Meanwhile, Bello has expressed hope that the signing of the State Assembly Service Commission Law will further enhance the activities of Legislators and solidify the already existing synergy between the Executive and the Legislature.

  • BREAKING: Bandits kill 7 kidnap victims in Kaduna

    BREAKING: Bandits kill 7 kidnap victims in Kaduna

    The Kaduna State Government on Sunday alleged that seven people were killed within three days by suspected bandits in Chikun, Kajuru and Giwa Local Government Areas of state.

    The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan, made this known in a statement.

    The statement said that the sad development was reported by some security agencies to the state authorities on Saturday.

    According to the statement, the security report revealed that the bandits shot four victims of kidnap dead at the outskirts of Tsohon Gayan general area of Chikun.

    “Two of the victims were from Kakau village of the same LGA. The third was identified as being from Kachia town and the fourth remains yet unidentified,” it said.

    The statement also said that in Iri Station, Kajuru council area, two people were also shot-dead by a gang of bandits.

    “Also one person, a native of Tsohon Farakwai of Igabi LGA, was similarly killed by bandits at the outskirts of Galadima general area of Giwa LGA,” it added.

    The statement said Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna had already sent condolences to their families and prayed for the repose of their souls.

    It said that the security agencies had visited the Iri Station where some victims were killed.

    The statement also quoted the commissioner, who led government delegation to the communities, as saying the state was commitment to the security and peace of the general public.

    It also urged collaboration between communities and security agencies, adding that the collaboration was critical and must be cultivated in the interests of state security.

  • Police, hunters rescue kidnapped victims from kidnappers in Ibadan

    Police, hunters rescue kidnapped victims from kidnappers in Ibadan

    Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers on Tuesday invaded the Kulum Quarry Road off Ibadan-Ijebu Ode Road and abducted three persons.

    It was gathered that the gunmen abducted their victims from a Toyota Sienna Bus and whisked them away into the bush.

    However, some persons who saw how the three persons were abducted were said to have reported the incident to the police.

    Some armed policemen, hunters and vigilantes were said to have moved into the bush and explored everywhere in search of the victims and their abductors.

    The effort was said to have paid off when the security agents and the non-state actors closed in on the criminals. They were said to have abandoned their victims and took to their heels to avoid being detained or killed by the security agents.

     

    The three victims were brought out from the bush unhurt.

    The Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Mr Adewale Osifeso, when contacted confirmed the incident to our correspondent in a chat.

    It read, “On 29/06/2021 at about 1100hrs hoodlums numbering about 10 blocked Kulum Quarry Rd off Ibadan-Ijebu Ode Road. During the process, three people were abducted from a Sienna Bus with Reg No: LUY 835KV.

    “The process was, however, thwarted by the swift intervention of policemen from the command in concerted efforts with vigilantes and hunters who engaged the abductors and were able to rescue all three victims unhurt. Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the abductors.”

     

  • Police arrest six kidnappers; recover AK 47 rifles, live ammunition in Abia

    Operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, ITR, have arrested six kidnappers at different locations in Abia State.

    Items recovered from the syndicate include; one AK 47 rifle with S/No. TC6664, 25 rounds of AK 47 live ammunition and one pump action gun with 10 live cartridges, a Volkswagen Jetta Car which the gang uses for their operations.

    Police sources told newsmen that the suspects had during interrogations, confessed to several kidnappings in the state including the abduction of Mr Aniebue Onyebuchi, among others in Aba.

    Among the arrested are Chibuike Iheoma, who is the gang leader and Samuel Udochukwu, the deputy leader of the kidnapping syndicate.

    Also arrested is Udo Onwukwe is the armourer of the syndicate and the owner of the building where they keep the kidnapped victims while Okechukwu Obioma guards the kidnapped victims in their camp.

    Other members include Emeka Okedum and Saviour Akpan is the driver of the gang.

    Abia Police spokesman, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, was yet to respond to calls made to his mobile number as at press time. However, a senior police officer who pleaded anonymity confirmed the arrest and added that an investigation is ongoing to apprehend fleeing members of the gang.