The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kidnap

  • Police confirm kidnap of Taraba lawmaker

    Police confirm kidnap of Taraba lawmaker

    The Taraba State Police Command has confirmed the abduction of the lawmaker representing Takum I in the House of Assembly, Mr. Hosea Ibi.

    Spokesman David Misal said Ibi was kidnapped from his Takum hometown on Saturday.

    He said: “I can confirm to you that the lawmaker was kidnapped last night (Saturday) in Takum. That is all I can tell you for now.”

    He added that the command has mobilised its men to Takum to rescue the lawmaker.

    An eyewitness, Mr. Rimansikpe Tsokwa, said Ibi was abducted around 10 pm.

    “Three gunmen alighted from two motorcycles at about 10pm and stormed Hosea’s mother’s house.

    “Immediately they entered, they seized the phones in the compound before taking Ibi away on their motorcycle. They didn’t say anything,” he said.

  • 52 kidnap victims rescued in Kano

    52 kidnap victims rescued in Kano

    •Police recover 273 ammunition 

    The Kano State Police Command rescued 52 kidnap victims, arrested 347 rape suspects and sued 331 of them to court in 2017, it was learnt yesterday.

    The police spokesman, Magaji Musa Majiya, in an end-of-year report, said the victims were rescued and reunited with their relatives.

    According to Majiya, 35 vehicles were recovered, 73 arms and 273 live ammunition were mopped out of circulation in 2017.

    The recovered items are worth N744, 699,046, he added.

    His words: “”Comparatively, 2016 witnessed 72 robbery cases and 117 arrests, while for the current year, only 35 cases were reported and 76 suspects arrested. Also, 547 rape and sexual assault offences were reported in 2016, while 334 cases were received in 2017, indicating a major decline in this crime.

    “The Kano State Police Command under the leadership of CP Rabiu Yusuf, is pleased to inform the public that 2017 is yet another successive year of progress as far as security of life and property is concerned.

    “Crime has drastically gone down, especially when focused on the adequate security arrangements strategically deployed in the state; the number of crime and criminals detected/arrested, and the collaboration with the public, especially traditional institutions, community leaders, NGO’S, and other strategic partners.

    “It is a year in which the public have made a robust input into the security-enhancing preventive measures.”

  • Police parade 30 inter-state robbers, kidnap suspects in Kogi

    Police parade 30 inter-state robbers, kidnap suspects in Kogi

    The Police yesterday in Lokoja paraded 30 inter-state armed robbery and kidnap suspects terrorising Kogi and the neighbouring states.

    Police spokesman Jimoh Moshood (CSP) said those arrested included some who allegedly kidnapped and killed an expatriate engineer with Dangote Cement Company.

    Moshood said at the Kogi Police Command headquarters that “The IGP directed the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ali Said Hangs, to quickly address armed robbery, kidnapping, social miscreants, cattle rustling, cultism on Auchi-Okene-Lokoja, Lokoja-Ajaokuta-Anyigba, Kabba-Oshokoshoko-Obajana highways.

    “Effort of the commissioner and his team through vigour, dedication, utmost professionalism and passion for the job, led to the arrest of the 30 suspected criminals and recovery of several weapons, he said.

    He said four of the suspects were alleged to have on Oct. 23, kidnapped an expatriate, Mr Jose Machada, a construction engineer with Dangote Cement Company, Obajana.

    Moshood said the suspects killed the expatriate when the ransom they demanded was not forthcoming.

    “Police operatives attached to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Kogi State Command, in synergy with the DSS promptly swung into action and arrested the four suspects,’’ he said.

    He said one of the suspects killed a senior employee of Dangote Group, Istifanus Bello, for allegedly trying to shortchange his kidnap gang.

    The company worker was said to have been killed for paying them N5 million instead of N7 million ransom for the release of another employee earlier abducted by the suspect and his gang.

    Moshood said two other suspects were arrested on Kano road, Idah, for terrorising the residents through cultism while another was arrested in Okene for kidnapping and cattle rustling.

    He noted that during interrogation the suspects confessed to participating in the killing one Haruna Baso, a resident of Achoze, and carting away the cattle of the deceased.

    Moshood listed items recovered from them to include, 11 AK-47 rifles, two Beretta pistols, two Revolver pistols, 334 rounds of AK-47 live ammunition, a dagger, a cutlass and military camouflage uniforms.

    The force public relations officer said the suspects would soon be prosecuted and called on parents to monitor their wards.

    He also appealed to the public to assist security agents with useful information to track down criminals.

  • Gunmen kill woman in Aba for resisting kidnap

    Gunmen kill woman in Aba for resisting kidnap

    A woman who was simply identified as Mrs. Ifeyinwa Morah has reportedly been shot dead by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia State.

    The Nation learnt that the incident happened in front of the residential quarters of late Morah, an indigene of Abatete, Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State at about 7pm on Wednesday.

    Sources around the area told our reporter that the woman was coming home from her husband’s gas plant along Aba-Umuahia-Enugu Expressway when some men wielding guns ordered her out of her car.

    It was learnt that the gunmen who were already waiting for late Mrs. Morah ordered her to enter her car in an attempt to drive off with her, but she resisted them.

    A security source who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that the gunmen angered by late Morah’s resistance to be taken away, shot her and later drove away with the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) she was driving.

    The source said that efforts were on to track down the gunmen as they have launched a manhunt on the hoodlums.

    The family of the victim, until the time of this report is yet to be contacted for comments. But a source close to the family disclosed that the woman died few minutes after she was shot as a result of the blood she lost.

    The source stated that the woman was planning to travel to the village this weekend and had just gone to the market some days before the unfortunate incident to shop few things that she would would be travelling home with.

    However, residents of Aba and its environs have called on the State Commissioner of Police, the 14Brigade Commander and heads of various security agencies in the state to brace up to insecurity that is raising its ugly heads in the state in recent times.

    They lamented the increase in kidnapping of persons and rate of armed robbery incidents within the city center and its environs especially within the festive period, stressing that the situation could deteriorate if not checked and nipped in the bud by the security agencies.

  • Teenagers held for ‘kidnap’

    Teenagers held for ‘kidnap’

    Two teenagers, Victor Monday, 16 and Isaac Elache, 17, have been arrested by men of the Edo State Police Command for attempting to use a wooden gun to kidnap a businessman in Udo, Ovia South West Local Government.

    They were arrested after they fled, as their victim pointed a torch on their faces.

    The suspects said they were lured to join the kidnap gang by the elder brother of Victor, Peter.

    Isaac, who spoke while being paraded at the police headquarters, said Peter gave him the wooden gun with which they attempted to abduct their victim.

    He said he accosted their victim in his home and pointed the gun at him.

    “When I told the man to move, he pointed a torch at my face and I ran away. I was scared. It was my first time of going to kidnap somebody.”

    Victor said he didn’t go with them, as he was asked to wait at a bush path.

    He said he was reluctant to go with his elder brother for the kidnap.

    “I am 16 years old. My half elder brother, Peter, took me to go and kidnap. I am an apprentice barber. He came to my shop and told me to follow him somewhere. I didn’t want to go. He went with my friend. My friend came back and told me he pointed the fake gun at the victim. When the victim pointed a torch at him, he ran away. It was my first time. I was scared. We hid in the bush and as we were going home, members of a vigilance group apprehended us.”

     

  • ‘I kidnap my girlfriend to raise money for our wedding’

    • Suspected killers of UNIBEN don paraded  

    A 24-year-old man, Michael Duda, has said he kidnapped his teenage girlfriend to raise money for their wedding.

    Michael, paraded with 104 suspects arrested for kidnapping, rape, robbery and cultism, at the headquarters of Edo State Police Command, said the girl just finished secondary school and there was no way he could approach her parents for marriage.

    Addressing reporters yesterday, Michael said he kept the girl in his home for four days and asked her father to pay N2 million ransom.

    The suspect, who said he sells cups, admitted that he had sex with the girl throughout the four days.

    “I live at Ekae, off Sapele Road. She came to my house. We planned to collect money from her father to raise money for our wedding, but I did not collect the money again. She stayed in my home for four days.

    “I couldn’t tell the father I want to marry his daughter. She said her father will not agree because she is yet to gain admission to a university. She was with me for four days. The father said he had no money. I was at home with my lover when the police came to arrest me.”

    The girl said they met on Facebook and after days, she visited him.

    She said she was surprised that Michael abducted her when she got to his home, adding that she learnt he demanded N4 million ransom from her father.

    The teenager’s elder sister, Rodha, said her sister was sexually abused before the police rescued her.

    Three suspects, who allegedly killed Prof. Paul Otasowie, of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Benin (UNIBEN), were also paraded.

    The don was killed on October 4 in his home at Evbuotubu in Egor Local Government.

    They are Osaze Oghogho, Best Ogumode and Happy Okoro.

    The suspects said they never intended to kill Prof. Otasowie, but to snatch his car and use it for robbery.

    They claimed he was mistakenly shot when he rushed at Osaze, who held a gun.

    Addressing reporters, Police Commissioner Babatunde Kokumo said the suspects would soon be arraigned.

    He listed the recovered items to include five AK 47 rifles, military weapons, 33 cut to size guns, motorcycles, 90 live AK 47 ammunition, 234 live cartridges, vehicles and N1.2 million.

  • 16 robbery, kidnap suspects paraded

    16 robbery, kidnap suspects paraded

    The police in Abuja yesterday paraded 16 suspects for alleged kidnapping, robbery and car snatching.

    It said the suspects belong to four different gangs, adding that they terrorise motorists on the Abuja-Kaduna; Abuja/Minna/Bida; Birnin Gwar/Funtua, and Abuja/Lokoja highways.

    Some of the suspects operate in military uniforms.

    The suspects include Abdulkareem Isah, Mohammed Mustapha, Yunusa Mohammed, Ahmadu Musa, Bashir Yero, Abdullahi Mohammed, Tanko Isah, Usman Adamu.

    Others are Yakubu Suleiman, Usman Ibrahim, Ahmed Suleiman, Isah Suleiman, Abdulmalik Sadiq, Usman Bawa, Sani Ahmed and Alex Egor.

    They were accused of killing a policeman.

    Spokesman Jimoh Moshood said: “On November 6, after a sustained surveillance and raid of criminal hideouts and kidnappers den by men of Operation Absolute Sanity, comprising the Special Tactical Squad (STS), Police Mobile Force (PMF), Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) raided identified kidnappers dens and other criminal hideouts in Abuja, Niger and Kaduna states.

    “They smashed four vicious and notorious gangs and arrested 16 suspects; the suspects confessed to the crime.

    “They will be arraigned in court after investigation. Efforts are on to arrest others at large.”

    Items recovered from them include two AK-47 riffles; a SMG OFN Mode 12 gun; a locally-made revolver pistol; three pump action guns; two berretta pistols; one air rifle; 85 rounds of 7.62X39mm ammunition; 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition and six rounds of 380 Auto.

    Others three live cartridges; five AK-47 magazines; one fabricated master key; three cars; a mobile phone; two pairs of military camouflage uniform and a box of fake dollars.

  • Gunmen kidnap council chief in Ebonyi

    •Victim locked inside coffin

    Gunmen have abducted and tortured the Coordinator of Ikwo South Development Centre, Marvin Anari.

    The incident, it was learnt, occurred at Ukwuachi playground, Amagu in Ikwo Local Government, venue of a stakeholders’ meeting.

    “Armed men invaded the venue, dragged the coordinator out, stripped him naked, defied pleas by elders, took him out of the venue of the meeting to Eke Amagu market, bought a coffin, pushed him inside in a pool of blood and closed the casket”, a source said.

    He said residents discovered where he was dumped by his abductors and took him to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.

    Last night, the council chief was in coma.

    Governor David Umahi, who visited the victim yesterday, described the incident as barbaric.

    He called for investigation into the incident and urged security agencies to arrest and prosecute the suspects.

  • Police arrest herders for ‘kidnap, murder of colleague’

    The police in Ogun State have arrested two herders for alleged kidnap and murder of another herder, Taye Amodu.

    Hassan Amodu and Abubakar Abdullah, the police said, allegedly kidnapped and murdered their victim on October 23, at Obada Oko, Abeokuta, where they allegedly rustled eight of his cattle.

    Upon receiving the information, it was learnt that the Commissioner, Ahmed Iliyasu, directed the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) to fish out the perpetrators.

    Spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi said the hideout of the suspects was uncovered about 5:30pm that day at Imeko.

    “Their hideout was in a forest and operatives stormed the place.  The suspects were arrested and a pump action gun loaded with four live cartridges and two cutlasses were recovered.

    “During interrogation, they confessed to have killed the victim because he strugged with them when they were taking him away. His body was buried in a shallow grave inside the forest. They equally confessed to have taken away eight of the victim’s cows.

    “The suspects will be arraigned after investigation.”

  • Two brothers in police net for ‘plotting’ to kidnap

    Two Ijaw brothers from Ikoro village in Ovia North East Local Government of Edo State have been arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap a baker in Benin City.

    The suspects, Andrew and Shedrack Adubu, were nabbed with their accomplice, John Ditere.

    They were looking for who would give guns and a car to carry out the kidnap when policemen, acting on a tip-off, arrested them.

    The suspects, who spoke to reporters when they were paraded at the command headquarters, said they planned to keep their victim at a forest on Benin-Lagos Expressway.

    Andrew said he planned to make millions from the abduction before police arrested them.

    Commissioner Johnson Kokumo said the suspects were held following investigation.

    He said they would soon be arraigned.