Edo State Commissioner of Police (CP), Funsho Adegboye, has disclosed that the increasing involvement of residents in cases of kidnapping in the state is worrisome.
Adegboye said this in Benin during an interaction with journalists on the command’s activities to combat crime.
While noting that kidnapping by herdsmen had somehow reduced in the state, he said, “From our recent experiences and the victims we have liberated and debriefed, we have discovered that most of the kidnappers now are not those we usually call herdsmen. The locals are getting seriously involved in kidnapping.”
He explained that before now if you asked the victims of kidnapping about their abductors, they would say “herdsmen”, but that now the involvement of the so-called herdsmen was very minimal.
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He further said, “Somebody was arrested in Edo North; when he was brought here, their group leader and others came and vouched for him. However, investigation confirmed 100 per cent that he kidnapped a woman and collected money. The people were ashamed of vouching for him.
“Also, recently a 23-year-old man kidnapped a five-year-old girl, kept her in his room for several days and collected N250,000 ransom from the parents while the poor girl was in his room.”
The CP added that operatives of the command had been moving round to sensitise the public, especially community and youth leaders, on the need to be more vigilant.
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