2 held for kidnapping herder in Oyo

The police in Oyo State have arrested two suspects in connection with the kidnapping of a herder, Muhammed Isa, at a ranch in Gudugbu area of Oyo town, Oyo State.

The Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams, who paraded the suspects in Ibadan, said they stormed the cattle ranch belonging to one Alhaji Saheed Adamu with guns, cutlasses, knives and other weapons with the intent to attack and kidnap the herder.

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He gave the names of the suspects as Usman Illiasu and Yusuf Jimoh.

According to him, when the suspects got to the ranch, they met Muhammed Issa and one Abdulahi, both herders.

He said, “When they realised that their master and the owner of the ranch was not in the ranch, they resorted to abducting one of his herders, Muhammed Issa.”

The police boss further said the suspects later contacted the owner, Alhaji Saheed Adamu, on phone and demanded N20m to release the herder.

Adebowale further said the incident was reported to the police and that while effort was being made to fish out the criminal elements and rescue the victim, Alhaji Adamu parted with N1m as ransom and the abducted herder was released after three days in captivity.

Speaking on how the suspects were arrested, the police boss said, “However, upon the release of the young boy, he provided useful information about the identities of his abductors and after discreet investigation, two of the armed robbery cum kidnapping syndicate members, who later identified themselves as Usman Illiasu and Yusuf Jimoh (both ex-convicts) were arrested.

“Two cutlasses, one jack knife and one small Tecno phone which they used for the criminal activity were recovered from them.

“The victim said he was able to identify the two suspects because they did not cover their faces while he was in their custody, and equally identified the jack nnife and the Tecno phone to be the same they used to contact his father for ransom.”