Anthony Iwuoma
The Ogun State Police Command has announced that no fewer than nine kidnap suspects were arrested in a joint operations by the police in the state.
According to the state police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspects, who were smoked out from their hideout in Abule Oba, off Ayetoro Road, Abeokuta, belonged to a notorious kidnap syndicate, operating along the Abeokuta-Ayetoro Road.
Many residents of the area had been kidnapped in recent passed and had to pay heavy ransom before regaining their freedom.
The suspects were arrested by policemen, in collaboration with local hunters, operatives of the So-safe Corps, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), the Amotekun Corps and men of the local vigilance groups.
Their arrest was made possible courtesy of followed credible intelligence made available to policemen at Sabo/Ilupeju divisional headquarters
The police spokesman identified the suspects as Hammed Taiwo, Kehinde Jimoh, Ali Morandu, Sanda Aliu, Umar Sanda, Usman Mohammed, Usman Abubakar, Umaru Ahmadu and Umaru Momodu.
According Oyeyemi, the police was reliably informed that two of the suspects, Hammed Taiwo and Kehinde Jimoh, were the kidnappers’ errand boys, operating on motorcycles.
When they were sighted somewhere in the Rounder area of Abeokuta North, the DPO of Sabo/Ilupeju, SP Mustapha Opawoye, quickly mobilised his men and arrested them.
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.”
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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 mobilised 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 issued orders for the immediate transfer of the suspects to the Anti-kidnapping section of the State CIID.
