The Nation Newspaper

Tag: kidnappers

  • Police kill five ‘kidnappers’, ‘bank robbers’ in Rivers, Anambra

    Security operatives engaged in gun battles with suspected kidnappers and bank ‘robbers’ yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, and in Anambra State.

    At the end, five hoodlums – two bank robbers and three suspected kidnappers – were gunned down.

    The attempted robbery took place on Ada-George Road around noon yesterday. Bodies of the slain suspects were paraded at the headquarters of the Rivers Police on Moscow Road.

    The black Toyota Corolla car, with registration number: Rivers: BGM 896 AG, in which the suspected robbers were operating, was impounded, along with two AK-47 rifles and two fully-loaded magazines.

    Deputy Rivers Commissioner of Police Thomas Etomi, said riot policemen, well-trained in special protection, carried out the successful operation, without any casualty on the part of the security agents.

    Etomi said: “Enough is enough. A few criminals cannot continue to terrorise law-abiding people of the state. We have mapped out security system and strategies in Port Harcourt and its environs, to reduce criminal activities to the barest minimum, especially around commercial banks.

    “A vehicle with four men was suspected by policemen, but they verified what they saw. Two of them were displaying rifles. As the robbers were attempting to escape, our men shot at them and they returned fire. Two of them fell, while others escaped with bullet wounds.

    “Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, is providing patrol vehicles for security agencies in the state. We must return Port Harcourt and its environs to the good old days and we are making progress, in our determination to make the state safe.”

    Etomi also admonished members of the public with useful information about criminals in their midst, to make such available.

    The Commander of the Nigerian Naval Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Commodore Vinci Fadeyi, has paraded four suspects who allegedly stole crude oil from a well head of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).

    The four suspects: Messrs. Richard Stawe Uwom, Daniel Godwin Pollyn, Jumbo Temple and Kayame Harry were immediately handed over to a team from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), led by Akubue Okechukwu, for further investigation and possible prosecution.

    The vessel used for the oil theft: MT African Hyacinth, formerly known as MT Oliver, which is a motor tanker, about 128 metres in length and 15 metres in breadth, flying Nigerian flag, was impounded by the navy.

    Commodore Fadeyi said: “The vessel has Mr. Adonye Wilcox Santos of Ship-Care Nigeria Limited as its agent. The ship allegedly sailed from Lagos to Port Harcourt for maintenance and anchored at Bonny (Island in Rivers State, base of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG).

    “On September 30, 2012, the vessel proceeded to Ererekiri Creek in Bonny and connected its hoses to SPDC’s well head 2, in an attempt to steal crude oil.

    “At about 0100 (1 am), while siphoning the crude oil, the vessel caught fire, the inferno that ensued, killed some of the perpetrators, while one sustained about 30 degree burns. The number of crew affected in the inferno could not be ascertained.”

    The commander also stated that the Base Intelligence Officer of Forward Operating Base (FOB), Bonny was informed that there was a patient in Channel Clinic with fire burn injury and on investigation, it was discovered that the patient was linked to the fire outbreak on the vessel.

    Upon further investigation, Fadeyi said four persons suspected to be linked with the fire incident were arrested and brought to NNS Pathfinder for investigation and were subjected to interrogation, to ascertain their level of involvement in the crude oil theft.

    While receiving the suspects, the leader of the EFCC team (Okechukwu) assured that the anti-graft agency would conduct further investigation and possible prosecution of the four suspects.

    All the suspects, in separate interviews with reporters, claimed that they were innocent and wrongly arrested for a crime they did not commit.

    Dare devil kidnappers engaged members of the Anambra State Anti robbery Squad (SARS) in a gun duel that lasted for over one hour, during which three suspected-kidnappers were killed.

    The police said, one of their victims, Rev. Fr. C. Okoye of the Catholic Arch Diocese of Onitsha was rescued with another victim Onyekwelu Jonathan Eledu.

    Also, six other kidnap suspects have been arrested by police in their different hide outs in the state.

    The police said the killed suspects were members of the dreaded gang of the Oraifite Kingpin, Olisa Ifedika (aka- Ofeakwu).

    They were said to be responsible for most kidnappings in the state and environs. The Orsumoghu detention camp of the suspects in Ihiala Local government area has been dismantled.

    Before the rescue of the priest, the hoodlums, it was gathered, demanded a ransom of N20 million from their victim’s family.

    The police said it had arrested fourteen armed robbery suspects in the state since October 1. Two other robbery suspects were killed in a gun battle.

    The items recovered from the kidnap suspects yesterday are two- AK 47 riffles, one rocket launcher, one rocket, four rocket propellers, 18 AK 47, magazines and 300 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition.

    Police spokesman Raphael Uzoigwe said the operatives are working to track down the fleeing wounded members of the syndicate.

    “We want to make sure that these hoodlums are all flushed out in Anambra state before the yuletide period, the state police is working every day and night on this issue.

    “We are not relenting in making sure that the state is free from all manner of crimes, this is just the beginning,” Uzoigwe said.

     

  • Police kill suspected kidnappers in Zamfara

    Police kill suspected kidnappers in Zamfara

    The Police in Zamfara said two suspected members of a syndicate that specialised in kidnapping and trading in human parts have been killed during a raid on their hideout.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Malam Usman Gwary, who stated this on Monday at a press briefing in Gusau, said a five-year-old girl was rescued in the raid.

    Gwary said that two suspects were killed in a cross fire with the police along the Sokoto-Gusau highway.

    He said the suspects were first intercepted as they were trying to negotiate the sale of the five-year-old girl in Zamfara.

    The commissioner of police said that his men acted on a tip-off and laid ambush for the suspects at strategic points on the border between Zamfara and Sokoto States.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the suspected criminals abducted the child from a private school in Imo sometime last week.

    Gwary said the girl was to be delivered for sale to another syndicate in Niger Republic through the Sokoto-Zamfara border.

    He further said the police sourced N600,000 for a phony purchase deal, having been briefed that the syndicate usually collected between N500,000 and N1,000,000 as price tag for sale of their victim.

     

  • ‘No contact with Osun Speaker’s wife’s kidnappers’

    Osun State House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salaam has denied the report in a newspaper (not The Nation) that his wife’s abductors have contacted the family and are demanding N200 million.

    Describing the report as false, a senior aide of the speaker, who pleaded for anonymity, said the kidnappers are yet to contact the family.

    The source said detailed information on how the speaker’s wife was abducted was supplied by a commercial motorcyclist, who witnessed the incident.

    The source said: “The motorcyclist said on Tuesday around 7pm, five boys double crossed Alhaja’s Honda car at Bamagay Square in Ejigbo with their car. He said Alhaja’s daughter was in the front passenger seat.

    “As they forced Alhaja out of the car, he said the young girl rushed out in panic and was hit by her mother’s moving car, whose gear was likely not in park mode.”

    The source, who said the Honda car has an auto-transmission gear, said the girl is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital.

    Sympathisers have besieged the speaker’s home since the incident occurred.

    When the wife of the Deputy Speaker, Mrs. Abimbola Adegboye, visited, she urged the speaker to seek solace in God and believe that his wife would return home safely.

    Salaam maintained that his wife, Muibat, does not deserve to be kidnapped. He said she was more of a wife and a business woman than a speaker’s wife.

    Salaam said: “I must say that I was embarrassed by the entire scenario, because my wife does not deserve it. She should not have been abducted for any reason, because she chose to stay with my children in my hometown, doing her legitimate business to support me at the home front. So, if she was kidnapped to get at me, she does not deserve it.”

    Deputy Speaker Akintunde Adegboye urged the kidnappers to release Mrs. Salaam.

    Adegboye said: “I urge the people behind this abduction to please consider the children of their captive, as well as the trauma she is going through and release her.

    Also yesterday, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dissociated itself from the kidnap.

    PDP Publicity Director Mr. Diran Odeyemi spoke during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo, the state capital.

    Odeyemi dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the abduction was political.

    He said: “It is criminal for any right thinking person to think that way. The PDP is not violent and does not have anything to do with the speaker.

    “As a matter of fact, the PDP sympathises with the speaker and it is our wish that his wife returns home unhurt.”

    ACN Publicity Director Mr. Kunle Oyatomi urged the Federal Government to tackle security challenges in the country.

    He urged the police to do everything possible to secure Mrs. Salaam’s release.

  • Police arrest seven kidnappers in Enugu

    Police arrest seven kidnappers in Enugu

    The Enugu State Police Command has arrested seven suspected kidnappers for allegedly kidnapping a woman, Roseline Nwokolo, at Oji River last month.

    The victim was allegedly abducted and taken into a forest for a ransom.

    Police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu said when security agents from the command were alerted, they found out the suspects’ hideout.

    He said the police arrested one of the suspects, James Afamuefuna Agu, at Madoti Estate in Lagos State, following a tip-off.

    Following Agwu’s alleged confession, the woman was rescued unhurt and Uchenna Nze (aka Akwaeke Junior), Olisa Nze (aka Mistake), Benjamin Mmuodebelu (aka Jack), Igwe Obinna, Kingsley Eze and Ekene Ani (aka Dada) were arrested over the matter.

    Amaraizu said the suspects are assisting the police in their investigation.

    Police Commissioner Musa Daura hailed his men for their doggedness.

    He praised other security agencies and the public for giving the police credible information on crime prevention and detection.

    The suspects, according to Amaraizu, promised to turn a new leaf, if they are released.

     

  • Kidnappers kill businessman

    Kidnappers kill businessman

    He went to the pharmacy to get drugs for his ailing friend’s child, but never made it back home.

    Odidi Nweze, a businessman, was killed after being abducted in front of a pharmacy in Satellite Town, a Lagos suburb, two days after he returned from the United States.

    He was said to have been abducted with his companion in front of Oxpharm and killed a few metres away, but the woman reportedly escaped.

    It was at the Festac Town branch of the pharmacy that the drugs injected into the drink of the late Cynthia Osokogu were bought.

    According to eyewitnesses, the late Nweze and his partner were bundled into the back of the abductors’ vehicle and taken away.

    On their way, the abductors ran into a traffic gridlock, and resorted to shooting their way out.

    Motorists were said to have abandoned their vehicles to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

    Sources said Nweze was dragged out of the vehicle and shot dead by his abductors.

    Lagos Police chief Umar Manko, it was learnt, has ordered the Area Commander in charge of Area ‘E’, Command, Mr Dan Okoro, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), to fish out the killers. He has seven days to do so. Okoro led the team which cracked the Cynthia murder case.

    Two suspects, The Nation learnt, have been arrested; the search for others is on.

    Okoro told The Nation that those in custody are the late Nweze’s female companion and his friend, who is also said to be dating the woman.

    The woman, it was gathered, has a child for the late Nweze’s friend.

    She told the police that she slept with her fellow suspect a day before Nweze died; but the man denied the allegation, claiming that he had not seen her in the last one year.

    The police are working on the theory that there may have been a quarrel between the late Nweze and his friend over the woman.

    The woman, it was learnt, is being held because she witnessed the killing.

    “She is alive; she saw it all and the only witness to the murder. She saw how it happened and how he was killed. We want to uncover those who sponsored the murderers, those who are in conflict with the man or his family members so that we can pick all the people involved in the killing,” a source said.

    The police are also on the trail of the late Nweze’s business partners to ascertain if they had a clash.

    A source at the Area Command said: “The deceased was already home and had even changed into his night wears when a call came through. It was the call that made him leave the house to where he was abducted. We are still trying to find out who called him. We have gone to the service providers to assist us with information that will aid our investigation”.

    On why the late Nweze’s friend was arrested, the source said: “From all indications, there are cloudy issues surrounding the man and these are the things we want to uncover, and that is why we are holding him. He has a case to answer.”

    Okoro accused some hoteliers of conniving with kidnappers, warning that anyone caught would be treated as an accomplice.

    He said: “Our investigation so far has shown that some hoteliers are harbouring these criminals. Any hotelier that a kidnapper is arrested in his or her domain will be charged to court alongside the suspects for complicity. The hotel, which we are suspecting that those who killed Nweze operated from, is already being investigated.

    “We suspect that the suspects were living at the hotel and taking off from there to carry out their criminal activities. All hoteliers must comply with the Inspector General’s and Commissioner of Police’s directives on the installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) in their premises and also ensure proper identification of guests before checking them in.”

    The police, he said, were beaming their searchlight on Oxpharm because of the coincidence in the instant case and that of Cynthia.

    Okoro said: “It’s an issue that I cannot just place. First, it was in their store that the drugs that were used on Cynthia was purchased in Festac and now the late Nweze was abducted in front of their branch at Satellite Town.”

    It’s in focus, we are thinking about that. Why must it be Oxpharm”.

    Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said, the commissioner of police had given investigators one week to fish out the killers.

  • Obi’s war on kidnappers

    Obi’s war on kidnappers

    •Good idea, but the government can do better by following the rule of law

    Ifite-Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State played host to Governor Peter Obi of the state on September 5. But the visit was devoid of the fanfare usually associated with such gubernatorial visits. It was a business unusual trip undertaken in the governor’s efforts to rid the state of armed robbers, kidnappers and other undesirable elements that constitute a nuisance to law-abiding citizens in the state.
    Anambra State, like most states in the south-eastern part of the country has been seriously troubled by these outlaws. Indeed, they have almost become laws unto themselves, instilling fears into the minds of especially the rich that they kidnap for ransom or rob of their property. So, it was soul-lifting when the state police command made good the governor’s threat to make the state unsafe for the criminals by arresting a suspect, Mr Olisagbo Ifedike, and another member of his gang on September 3. Then, on September 5, Governor Obi was in the town to personally supervise the demolition of two buildings belonging to the suspect, said to be a kingpin in the illicit business, following allegations that the buildings were being used for criminal purposes.
    Of course, arms were also recovered from the buildings. These included 27 AK 47 rifles, one K2 riffle, two type-06 rifles, one General Purpose Machine Gun, one Rocket launcher, 17 rockets, six pump action guns, three dane guns, one Barrett pistol and 13 Rocket grenades, as well as 12,800 rounds of AK 47 live ammunition, 530 rounds of LAR ammunition, 95 rounds of GPMG live ammunition, 1,000 rounds of K2 live ammunition and 143 magazines. Security experts say these are enough to defeat a small army.
    The arrest of a suspect like Ifedike is expected to give people in the area some relief. Indeed, the people had themselves showed their disapproval of the suspect’s activities when an angry mob in the town burnt parts of his buildings, smashing the windows, doors and furniture even before Governor Obi’s arrival. When the governor arrived, he personally supervised the demolition of the structures believed to have been built with proceeds from kidnapping and other crimes in the presence of some members of his executive council.
     Given the gravity of the deprivations and deaths that the criminals have caused, we may want to applaud the action. This is much more so that it has the legal backing of the state house of assembly. Our worry, however, is whether that state law can supersede the common law presumption that a suspect is deemed innocent until proven otherwise by a competent court of law.
    We appreciate the governor’s concern for security of lives and property in the state. But the rule of law must be followed, in spite of the circumstantial evidence against the suspects. There have been cases of people who suffered miscarriage of justice in the past; we have seen people that had been killed before the truth that they were not responsible for the crime over which they died surfaced. Indeed, this is a major argument against the death penalty. As things stand, the preponderance of evidence seems to weigh against the suspects, but then, it is still the courts that should convict them and prescribe the punishment. Moreover, the structures destroyed are legacies that could be converted into public use at the end of the case, instead of demolishing them.
    We agree with the governor that jobless youths in the area should take advantage of the various economic empowerment programmes of the government to earn a decent living. But it is important that traditional rulers as well as town union executives also show more concern for security in their areas.