THE Police in Ondo State have arrested five kidnappers who slept off while abducting the wife of a pastor and two others in the Ofosu area of the state.
According to reports, the kidnappers allegedly slept off after taking hard drugs, thus allowing their captives to escape.
The kidnappers were listed as Garuba Mumuni, Yusuf Tale, Kabiru Muhammad, Shaibu Umar, and Adamu Mohammed.
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They were apprehended by officers of the Ondo Police Command’s Ofosu Division when the victims recognised one of them.
According to the police, the victims were a pastor’s wife, a member who was abducted from the church, and a third victim who was abducted while harvesting snails on the farm.
“Through intelligence, on May 1, 2024, five among the six kidnappers were arrested by men of Ofosu division and have been identified by the victims as part of the gang that abducted them,” the command stated.
The Ondo State police commissioner, Abayomi Oladipo, announced that the suspects would soon be charged in court.
According to the police, another suspect, Adetokunbo Adesina, who allegedly claimed to have been hired to kill over 500 people, was also detained after receiving N110,000 from his most recent victim.
The ICIR reported in January 2024 that over 380 persons were kidnapped between December 1, 2023, and January 3, 2024, across Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu.
According to Data obtained by The ICIR from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a data bureau collecting data on the locations, dates, actors, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events worldwide, those abducted include men, women, farmers, children, and students.
The victims were taken hostage at various events that happened during the last month of 2023 and the first week of the new year, illustrating the escalating number of kidnapping cases in the country.
The affected states include Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, FCT, Kaduna, Kastina, Kogi, Lagos, Nassarawa, Ogun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.
During the period, the Ondo state security outfit, Amotekun, detained 60 people, including an ex-convict named Usman Garuba and a 72-year-old informant named Suleman Abubakar, on suspicion of abduction and other offences in the state.
The state commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye, announced in Akure that the 72-year-old Abubakar was taken into custody for giving information to the kidnappers who whisked away his boss.
Garuba was arrested after kidnapping nine people and demanding a ransom in the Akure North Local Government Area of the state.
In recent years, Nigeria has seen a sharp leap in kidnappings. This has resulted in Nigerians paying billions of naira in ransom to secure the release of their loved ones at the hands of kidnappers.
A report published by The ICIR examined cases of kidnapping, ransom payment and the cost of being kidnapped in Nigeria.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance