The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • RCCG’s security man docked for impersonating Pastor Adeboye

    RCCG’s security man docked for impersonating Pastor Adeboye

    A security man with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Awobola Babatunde, who allegedly opened a bank account in the name of the General Overseer, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, was arraigned in Lagos on Monday.

    The accused, 32, whose address is unknown, is facing a four-count charge of stealing, impersonation, conspiracy and opening an account in Adeboye’s name and attempting to cash a cheque of N600, 000.

    He pleaded not guilty to the charges at an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court.

    According to the prosecutor, Insp. Aighoi Gbemileke, the accused with others still at large committed the offences on June 6 at No. 1/9, Redemption Way, Ebute Meta, at 9.00 a.m.

    He said the accused stole a Fidelity Bank cheque valued at N600, 000 belonging to the RCCG General Overseer.

    “The accused falsely presented himself as Pastor Adeboye by opening a savings account at Aguda, Surulere branch of Fidelity Bank in his name.

    “He opened the account in order to cash the cheque and convert the money to personal use.

    “Babatunde also opened the account in order to be stealing money from the church as they plan to pay in more cheques,” Gbemileke alleged.

    He said the offences violated Sections 285, 378, 404 and 408 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    In her ruling, the Magistrate, Mrs B. Folarin-Williams, admitted the accused to a bail of N100, 000 in addition to two sureties in like sum.

    The sureties, she said, must be blood relations of the accused and also produce evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government as part of the bail conditions.

    The case was adjourned to Aug. 4 for mention.

  • Four killed, others injured as gunmen raid community

    Four killed, others injured as gunmen raid community

    No fewer than four persons were yesterday killed with several others injured after gunmen stormed the Banku Estate, Ibafo area of Ogun State.

    This is coming barely two weeks after a prominent traditional ruler was abducted and only released after N5million ransom was paid.

    It was gathered that the criminals, suspected to be dislodged pipeline vandals arrived the area in three buses at about 9pm on Wednesday.

    They were said to have stormed the residence of a businessman, apparently to harm him but met his absence.

    Out of frustration, the criminals were said to have fired sporadically killing innocent people.

    A source who expressed worries that the dislodged vandals have taken to kidnapping, said that it was difficult for the criminals to vandalise pipelines following high pressure of security agents.

    He said: “They now feel that they can make more money from kidnapping since it has become increasingly difficult for them to operate as vandals in the area. The hoodlums arrived around 9pm on Wednesday. When they arrived, they fired over 80 shots to scare away people.

    “They later headed for the home of a prominent businessman in the area. As at the time they arrived the place, the target was not home. Out of anger, the hoodlums started firing sporadic shots. Two of the occupants of the house died during the shootout while three others sustained bullet wounds.”

    Confirming the incident, the spokesman for Ogun State command, Muyiwa Adejobi said three others were injured.

    He assured that the command alongside other security agencies will get the pepertrators who he said we’re dislodged vandals from the riverine.

    “We are pained at the loss of any Nigerian life. The police commissioner has been engaging other security agencies and stakeholders to ensure safety if lives and properties,” he said.

  • ‘Fake’ policeman nabbed extorting motorists

    ‘Fake’ policeman nabbed extorting motorists

    The police in Lagos yesterday arrested an alleged impostor, Austine Okwuokei while he was extorting motorists.

    Okwuokei was nabbed around Costain roundabout, Iponri, Surulere.

    The suspect allegedly confessed that he usually made an average of N10,000 within two hours.

    Confirming his arrest, the command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police  (SP) said he will be charged to court soon.

    She warned motorists to desist from indulging so-called policemen who demand bribes, stressing that the command abhors corruption.

  • Police kill four notorious cultists

    Police kill four notorious cultists

    The police in Rivers state have yesterday killed four notorious cultists in the state.

    The hoodlums are reportedly killed in a gun battle with the police at Ogbakiri area of Emuoha LGA the state yesterday morning.

    The state Police spokesman Ahmad Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    The cultists suspected to be members of Icelanders cult group, being led by one Italian, a native of Ikwerre LGA were said to be members of the group that has been terrorising Isiokpor and Rumuji communities of Ikwerre and Emuoha LGAs of the state.

    The criminals reportedly attempted attack on the Police Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Annex Office at Ogbakiri junction but were repealed by the Police.

    “When our Rumuji Police station was attacked last weekend, we knew that this boys are up to something, by the directive of the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Musa Kimo, all our Police security formations were beefed up, so the Police were on red alert.

    “As God may have it this morning, around 11:am they hoodlums, the same people that attacked the Rumuji station, came to attack our SARS Annex office at Ogbakiri junction, our men fought back and they were repealed.

    “There was heavy gun battle between the Police and the criminals. There was re-enforcement of the SARS and Anti-Cultism Unit, at the end of the battle, three corpses of the cultists were recovered, the fourth one died in the hospital, but before he died, he was able to confess to the Police that they are the group responsible for the disturbances at Rumji, Aluu, in Emuoha LGA and Isiokpor in Ikwerre LGA of the state, and that their gang leader is one Italia.

    “There was no casualty on the Police side. Several wraps of items suspected to be dynamite explosive were recovered from the place they led ambush against the Police. No gun was however recovered from them.”

    The CP assured the people of the state of the Police resolve to give no rest to the hoodlums and appealed to members of the public to volunteer useful information to the Police.

    Emuoha and Ikwerre LGA of the state came under siege of the criminals last weekend. No fewer than 25 persons were killed in a two day-subsisted attacks on the areas.

  • Fake ‘doctor’ bags life jail for kidnapping

    Fake ‘doctor’ bags life jail for kidnapping

    A Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja has sentenced a fake medical doctor, Joseph Adeika to life imprisonment for kidnapping his former employer’s eight-year-old son, Favour Sunday, in Ajaokuta.

    Justice Yunusa Musa of the Kogi High Court 5, handed down the sentence on Wednesday.

    Adeika was last week Thursday (June 2.) convicted of kidnapping Master Favour Sunday from his parents’ residence in Ajaokuta.

    The judge held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that the convict masterminded and executed the kidnap of Master Favour Sunday and collected ransom before the victim was released.

    The prosecution had told the court that Adeika, who was an office clerk with Channels Diagnostic Laboratory, Ajaokuta was disengaged by Mr. Sunday Okorodudu, Favour’s father and owner of the establishment.

    The convict was said to have later established Omega Clinic, Itobe in Ofu local government of the state with himself as the Chief Medical Director (CMD), where he carried on as a qualified medical practitioner.

    The prosecution also told the court that on March 15, 2016 the convict while armed with a gun, arrived Okorodudu’s residence at Abuja Estate, Ajaokuta and kidnapped the boy at gun point.

    The prosecution, led by Mohammed Abaji, Senior Legal Officer with the state Ministry of Justice further told the court that investigation led to the arrest and prosecution of the convict.

    Pronouncing the sentence, Justice Musa said sentence was deferred from June 2, following the plea by three counsels in the case, for postponement of the sentence of the convict.

    He said that section 3(1) of the Kogi State Kidnapping, Thuggery and other Related Offences Prohibition Law (2010), provides for life imprisonment without option of fine upon conviction.

    He accordingly sentenced the accused to life imprisonment without option of fine.

     

  • My daughter’s death robbed my family of a potential biochemist, says father of electrocuted 14-year-old

    My daughter’s death robbed my family of a potential biochemist, says father of electrocuted 14-year-old

    Fourteen-year-old Deborah Faleke was a talented and brilliant child. She had dreams of becoming a biochemist when she grew up. And she worked towards her dream, with her writing the final paper in the 2016/2017 West African School Certificate Examinations recently, taking her a few steps away from entering the university to commence a course in Biochemistry.

    But that dream was cut short on Saturday May 21, 2016, when Deborah was killed by a high voltage wire.

    According to her father, Pastor Ademola Faleke, Deborah’s death killed his daughter’s dream of achieving her ambition.

    ”Deborah was a very brilliant child. As a little girl, she told me that she would like to study Biochemistry at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, and after she finishes her secondary education. She finished her WASCE examination only three weeks ago but her death has robbed my family of having a Biochemist,” Deborah’s father said with tears in his eyes.

    Pastor Faleke, the General Overseer of Mountain of the Word and Miracle Ministry (a.k.a Hill of Bashan), was on pastoral duty in Egbeda, Lagos, when he received a call that he should take the next available bus back home.

    On getting home, he was told that his beautiful daughter, Princess Adebobola Faleke, had been electrocuted by a 150mm electric wire which cut and fell on her few minutes after Ikeja Distribution Company Ltd restored power.

    Deborah, the last child of five children, was said to have stepped out of her parent’s residence at N0 50, Fagbenro Street, Alakuko, Lagos residence when the unfortunate incident happened.

    Expatiating further on the incident, Pastor Adeleke said: ” The incident occurred on Saturday. That particular morning, I was at Egbeda for ministration at around 10:00am. They called me that there was fire, and I was even thinking that it was fire from gas. Later, they called me that it was electricity cable.

    “I learnt that there was power surge few minutes after power was restored and there was fire. The fire consumed the pole, and unfortunately, at that particular time, she was about leaving the house for a mission when the cable dropped on her. At first, when the incident occurred, people were scared of getting close to her because of the fear of being electrocuted.

    “But later they took her when people saw that they were safe. The first hospital could not take her because they have no facility to take such incident. So, she was referred to a bigger hospital. At that moment, she was still alive because she was still gasping. But she was not taken into the hospital. They tested her in that commercial tricycle popularly called Keke NAPEP that brought her to the hospital.

    “When the doctor saw that she was gasping for breath, he said they cannot take her. After some few minutes, she gave up the ghost. When I got there, I found my daughter lifeless still lying in that Keke NAPEP.

    “There was a man that appeared to be an Ikeja Distribution Company official he took the picture of the pole, wires and also took the picture of the corpse. The police also came to take pictures. The police was even saying that we should not even bury her yet, that they have to carry out a post-mortem. I told them I have her death certificate and that the cause of the death has been ascertained. She is a young girl who just finished her WAEC examination three weeks ago.”

    Pastor Adeleke commended the efforts of the police, which he said was fantastic. “The police at Alakuko Division are very fantastic. I commend the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) and all the police officers there. Immediately the case was reported, they swung into action. I would like to say this, there are some preventive measures we can take to avoid unnecessary killings of innocent citizens. Take for instance, wherever there is high cable or high tension wire, there should be a net protecting the wire so that whenever the wire falls, it won’t fall on anybody.”

    The authorities of the Ikeja Distribution Company were also at the residence of the Adelekes to commiserate with them.

    “The Ikeja Disco people came here on Thursday. They came in with the distribution manager of Abule Egba, the legal officer and some engineers to commiserate with us. My brother, who is a lawyer, met with the legal officer of Ikeja Disco and fixed a date for meeting” Faleke added.

  • My ordeal in suspected ritual killers’ den, by 17-yr-old

    My ordeal in suspected ritual killers’ den, by 17-yr-old

    It was a narrow escape for a SSS 2 student of State High School, Alimosho, a suburb of Lagos, Master Israel Ibikunle, after he was allegedly abducted on his way home by suspected ritual killers on Monday May 30, 2016.

    Our correspondent gathered that the boy, who was living with one of his relatives on No 8, Ifeoluwa Street, Ipaja, was returning home from where he had gone to fetch water when he was seized by some men in an unmarked vehicle a few metres to his residence.

    According to the boy, sensing that his cries might attract passers-by, his abductors quickly covered his mouth with handkerchief and bundled him into their vehicle, where he also met two other victims.

    He said:” I had gone to collect ‘change’ (balance) from where I fetched water at about 7 pm when I was abducted by some men who parked their car at a nearby junction.

    “I tried to raise the alarm but I was gaggled with a handkerchief by my captors who threw me into their vehicle and zoomed off. I met two other victims, including a girl, inside the car and a female member of the gang dealt gave me several slaps and destroyed my handset perhaps to prevent me from using it to call my relatives.”

    Israel disclosed that he was blindfolded and beaten up by his captors until they arrived at their den somewhere between Ayobo, Lagos State, and Itele area of Ota in Ogun State.

    “We were driven for hours until they finally stopped at a place in a forest between Ayobo and Itele area of Lagos and Ogun states respectively.

    “They removed the blindfold and the only woman among my captors hit me and the girl with a fetish substance on the chest several times. When her efforts failed to produce favourable result, she ordered that we should be released, saying: ”Awon eleyi o wulo fun nkan ta fe lowon fun o (These ones are not useful for any rituals). It then dawned on me that they were ritual killers prowling the neighbourhood for young victims.

    “The girl and I were dragged out and released late in the night and we trekked for hours until we got separated and fled in different directions. I was weak and by the time I was found in the wee hours of Tuesday by members of the vigilance group who had been alerted by my guardian, I almost passed out”.

    Speaking with our correspondent, Israel’s guardian, who identified herself simply as Funmi, said: “I left him (Israel) at home with my children not knowing that all was not well. I returned home only to discover that he was nowhere to be found. He left my children with one of our neighbours and I was hoping that he would soon return until late in the night. I was told that he left home to fetch water in a nearby building and had not been seen since. We organised a search party for him and combed everywhere in the Ipaja neighbourhood till around midnight but he was not found. We were on our way to the nearest police station when some members of vigilance group turned us back and promised to search for him.

    “We were shocked when they brought him home in the wee hours of Monday looking very unkempt and weak. He had bruises on his body and could barely talk until the next day”.

  • How I lost my eye to police brutality, by 42-yr-old woman

    How I lost my eye to police brutality, by 42-yr-old woman

    A 42-year-old woman, Mrs. Sola Aregbesola, who resides in Ilawe-Ekiti, is now crying for justice over alleged beating she received inside a police station in the community.

    The mother of five claimed that she has lost one of her eyes as a result of the alleged brutality she suffered in the hands of men of Mushin Police Station, who she also accused of almost stripping her naked while in custody.

    The woman alleged that she was arrested and detained at the station on the order of a woman she identified as her husband’s mistress.

    According to her, she was arrested at her medicine shop on May 5 by policemen brought by her rival who insisted that she must leave the community.

    The case has since been taken up by the Ekiti State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development who are working to ensure that Mrs. Aregbesola gets justice.

    Mrs. Aregbesola said: “My husband’s mistress and her mother came to visit my shop on Thursday, May 5 at about 4pm. They asked me to leave the community for them, so she can have my husband for herself only.

    “One of my daughters, who was angered by their effrontery, confronted them but I calmed her down and asked her to steer clear of the matter.But before they left, they threatened to deal with me in such a way I would never forget but I took their threat with a pinch of salt. They left and came back to arrest me with some policemen from Mushin Police Post in Ilawe-Ekiti.

    “The policeman who followed them said I was wanted at the station to tell my side of the story. He said the women had alleged that I came to their house to assault them. When we got to the station, my husband’s mistress, her mother and some of her relatives were already there and they were raining curses at me.

    “It took about an hour before the police officer in charge of the case asked me to explain myself and I told him all that had happened earlier at my shop. I told them I didn’t assault anybody and urged the police to investigate the matter. But the police officer ordered his subordinates to detain me and boasted that he would make sure that I spend four days in detention before any investigation is carried out.

    “When it was about 8 pm that day, I began to plead with the police officer that he should allow my people to secure my bail because I’m an asthma patient and that I also have ulcer. I even begged him to allow me call one of my children so they could bring my drugs for me. But while I was about to dial my son’s number on my cell phone, the officer snatched my phone and threw it away.

    “He then demanded for N30,000 as a bribe for him to release me and boasted that he could kill me in the detention and no one would question him. He said he is an employee of the Federal Government and not of the state government and that the only family he regards in Ilawe-Ekiti is the family of the people who reported to him that I assaulted them.

    “When it was around 9pm, I went to kneel down before him and begged him to allow me call my child who was in my shop so she could bring the money I was having inside the shop for him.

    “He asked if the money was up to N30,000 and I said it would not be up to that and that the money was meant for one of my children’s examination fee. I begged him to accept the money and let me go but he said he would not accept it unless it was up to N30,000.

    “I continued to beg him to collect the money and he got angry at a point and slapped me. He then hit me with his shoes and later ordered his junior officers to chain me to one of the tables in the office before I was later dragged into the cell.

    “They tore my clothes and slapped me severally. While I was being assaulted by the policemen, my son who had gone to see a lawyer came to the police station. He told the senior police officer that a lawyer who had taken up my case wanted to speak to him on phone and request that I be granted bail so that he (the lawyer) could bring me back to the station the next morning.

    “Instead of taking the phone from my son, the senior police officer ordered his junior officer to deal with my son and they beat him also and even chained him. The evidence of all this was recorded on that my son’s phone.

    “While all this was happening, God brought a very senior police officer from Igbara-Odo to the station. I can’t recall his name but he told me he was representing Igbara-Odo Police Station. He had gone to the station to see the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who was not around then.

    “It was that senior officer who, on seeing me drenched in my own blood, asked the officers at the police station if I was an armed robber that made them treat me so badly, and they told him about the allegation levelled against me.

    “It was that time the senior officer, who is not a Yoruba man, called the station’s DPO and informed him about the ill-treatment his men were giving me. The DPO then demanded to speak with me on phone and I explained all that happened. That made the DPO to order his junior officers to release me, saying that I should report at the station the next day.

    “The next day, the DPO called all of us and in a very good and humane way settled the matter. I didn’t pay any money. I just thank God that the senior officer, who is not a Yoruba man, got to the station on time, the officers would have finished me at the station. Now, I’ve lost my left eye to the assault from the policemen at Mushin Police Station in Ilawe-Ekiti and the aggrieved woman”.

    Ekiti State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Olayinka Ogundayomi vowed that the ministry will ensure justice for Mrs. Aregbesola.

    The commissioner said: “It would be an unfortunate development if indeed it is true that the policemen assaulted this woman like this. There are laws against such alleged crimes and the perpetrators cannot go unpunished.

    “We have contacted the appropriate quarters and once our investigations confirmed her allegations. We will ensure that with the help of the law, we deal with the perpetrators of this alleged inhuman act to a woman.

    “We also use this medium to appeal to our women to end the culture of silence where they keep quiet after being assaulted like this. They will get protection and justice if they cry out and report to us.”

    But the state spokesman, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, denied the allegation of assault levelled against the junior police officers at Mushin Police Station in Ilawe-Ekiti.

    Adeyemi said: “The woman (Aregbesola) couldn’t have said the truth. We investigated the matter and what we gathered from the Mushin Police Station in Ilawe-Ekiti is that Mrs. Aregbesola allegedly went to assault a woman said to be a mistress of her husband and the woman’s mother and that led to some free-for-all or street fight.

    “She got seriously injured in the ensuing crisis and later reported the matter to the Mushin Police Station where she was attended to. We can’t now understand how she would then take on the police and alleged that she was assaulted by us when indeed it was the people she fought who actually assaulted her.

    “We challenge her to prove her allegation because this is what almost everyone in Ekiti do; they just like to blackmail the police when a case turns against them.”

  • Murder of Ortom’s security aide unsettles Benue

    Murder of Ortom’s security aide unsettles Benue

    He was a crack detective attached to the Benue State Police Command of the Nigeria Police Force and was reputed for his exploits in smoking out men of the underworld. Criminals were said to shiver at the mention of his name. The late Segment Igbana Denen was a no-nonsense policeman who took his job very seriously.

    But his exploits came to an abrupt end penultimate Friday as he was shot dead at about 12.30 am by some gunmen said to have numbered more than 20 near his residence in Tionsha, a suburb of Makurdi, Benue State capital, as he was returning home from office.

    The gunmen, according to a community leader and tax collector, Thomas Ayakpam, laid an ambush for him on sighting his Nissan Hilux vehicle and rained bullets on both sides of the back seat, thinking that he sat there.

    But Igbana, who was said to be driving himself, jumped down from the vehicle and attempted to escape, but the gunmen shot him in the leg and he managed to get to the front of his house before he collapsed. The gun men closed up with him and shot him several times.

    He was rushed by concerned neighbours to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, where he died.

    The question everybody, including Governor Samuel Ortom, has been asking since his closest security aide was felled by assassins’ bullets is who killed Denen Igbana and what is the motive?

    There was a twist to the brutal killing of Igbana during the condolence visit of Governor Ortom to the family and niegbourhood. A tax collector, Thomas Ayakp, while briefing the governor, said before Igbana died, he was shouting the name of a particular man. He said as Igbana was crying and shouting as he ran from his attacker, he was saying: “What have I done that you want to kill me?”

    After he resigned from the police force ahead of retirement, the late Igbana had vied for the position of the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of Benue State University (BSU), but lost out as a result of some forces against him. Since he could not go back to the police, he joined the Ortom-Abounu Campaign Organisation 2015 as the security officer. And when Ortom won the governorship election, he was appointed Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Security to the governor and was placed in charge of the state’s amnesty programme in respect of criminals who gave up their arms.

    Governor Ortom, while addressing journalists to mark his one year in office, described his late security aide as a hard working man, saying that he was instrumental to the success of the entire amnesty where many dangerous weapons were retrieved from criminals.

    Ortom declared that even if it was his own biological son that killed Igbana, he should be arrested and made to face the law. He vowed that those who killed him would be fished out as he had given security agents the matching order to fish them out.

    The Nation investigation revealed that few days before he was killed, Igbana had complained to the governor that he was being trailed by some people and pleaded with the governor to help him build a fence around his house. The governor was said to have scheduled an appointment with him against the day he was killed.

    Even as SSA to the governor, Igbana was reputed for smoking out kidnappers without a single ransom paid. The governor himself confirmed this at various fora.

    Was he killed by a criminal whose case he once handled? Even if that was the case, it is difficult now for security agencies to find out because he is dead.

    Another angle security men are said to be exploring is whether any of the ex-bandits who returned their weapons could have felt cheated and took his pound of flesh, since the government has so far spent millions of naira on the amnesty programme through workshops and payment for returned weapons, among others.

    The fearless policeman that he was, Igbana was once said to have volunteered being locked in the booth of a car as a ransom to be picked up by kidnappers was being conveyed at a particular location. The kidnappers were shocked when they opened the booth of the car to pick their ransom only to be confronted by Igbana, who promptly arrested them and set the victim free.

    The foregoing speculations will remain mere conjectures and his death a mystery until a thorough investigation is conducted and the suspects are arrested.

  • Abia police arrest 11 suspected kidnappers, robbers

    Abia police arrest 11 suspected kidnappers, robbers

    Men of the Abia State Command have arrested 11 persons suspected to be members of a kidnapping, armed robbery gang that been causing havoc in various parts of Aba, the commercial hub of the state and its environs.

    Out of the 11 suspects, three were said to be involved in kidnapping activities, two in armed robbery, while the rest six were arrested allegedly for being in possession and dealing in hard drugs.

    The suspected kidnappers, Bright Nwokengbe, Gomba Kaji and John Onyemuwa, were accused of abducting an unnamed Yoruba man in the city.

    Nwokengbe,19, who was accused of being behind several kidnapping activities in the state, was said to have been arrested in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by a crack team of police intelligence team, while the rest two were nabbed in Aba after a robbery operation.

    Onuoha Okpani, a labourer in Aba and Jeremiah Kalu, who claimed to be a commercial bus driver, were both arrested at Umukalika axis of Aba for alleged armed robbery.

    Items recovered from them included mobile phones and the sum of 20,000 (from both of them), part of the it loot from a robbery operation which they were yet to dispose before luck ran out on them.

    Other members of their gang were said to be on the run as police said it has launched manhunt for them.

    Parading the 11 suspects before newsmen at the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) office at Ogbor Hill, Aba, the State Commissioner of Police, Joshak Habila, said that the arrest was possible because his men were able to analyse and utilise information given to them appropriately.

    He claimed that most of kidnapping incidents in the state, especially in Aba and its environs come from border communities.

    “Most of the kidnappers are now coming from communities that border Abia with other states and we have been cooperating with the police in those states and one of the results is what you have seen today (Saturday)”.

    Habila said his command had a new road map it is now using to reduce crime cases, especially kidnapping, in the state and expressed joy that the woman who had been providing the kidnappers’ food and other needs had been arrested and their hideout taken over by government.

    The CP advised criminals in the area to renounce their trade and come back to real life to add values to the society, stressing that police in the state would not take it kindly with any person arrested for criminal offence.

    He advised the public to always volunteer information to the police, promising that such information would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

    Apart from Nwokengbe, who denied involvement in kidnapping, rather claiming he was arrested in his elder brother’s stead, others admitted to the crime.

    While Gomba Kaji and John Onyemuwa confessed to the crime of kidnapping, saying they received N120, 000 each for passing information which led to the abduction of the Yoruba man, to their gang members, Onuoha Okpani and Jeremiah Kalu said they were lured into robbery by their friend they described as one Maduekwe (now at large) and were given N6,000 each after the operation, which preceded their arrest.

    The six drug suspects, who were arrested in their hideout within the Imo Gate axis, all confessed to the crime and blamed the devil for their actions.

    About 10 pieces of cutlasses, raps of cocaine, candles, drug tester and among others, were found in their custody.

    All the suspects were taken into custody pending their arraignment.