Operatives of the Ogun Police Command have arrested five members of a kidnap syndicate, terrorizing Obada Oko and its environs in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state.
The suspects – Aliu Manya, Usman Abubakar, Abayomi Olayiwola, Nasiru Muhammad and Bello Usman, were arrested following a piece of information received by policemen attached to Obada Oko divisional headquarters.
The police got a tip-off that the men were sighted on two motorcycles inside a forest at Eleja area of Obada Oko at about 8:00pm on Tuesday.
The Command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Wednesday in Abeokuta, said following the tip-off, the DPO Obada Oko division, CSP Tijani Muhammed, quickly mobilized his men and in conjunction with other stakeholders like so safe corps, hunters and local vigilante, stormed the forest where the five suspects were apprehended.
He said packs of tramadol, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, three cutlasses and two motorcycles with registration number MEK 504 VC and ODE 423 VC as well as a cash sum of seventy-three thousand naira were recovered from the suspects.
He said: “While the investigation was going on, a kidnap victim who was earlier kidnapped and released came forward to identify the suspects as those that kidnapped him.
“His brother, who took ransom money to them also identified two amongst the suspects as those who collected the money from him for the release of his brother.”
Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the suspects to the anti-kidnapping unit of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for discreet investigation.
The CP also directed that other members of the gang should be hunted for and brought to justice.
