A kidnapped victim (name withheld) who was rescued from a notorious gang by troops of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) said his abductors demanded a ransom of N2.5 million.
The victim had on Wednesday narrated to newsmen in Makurdi how one Seidu Muhammadu who was paraded by the Force Commander of OPWS, Major General Adeyemi Yekini, abducted him from his house at Lapai in Niger State.
He said the abductors kept him in the forest for one week before he regained his freedom.
“Seidu and his gang came to abduct my elder brother in my house but he was not around. When I came out and I told them that I was his younger brother, they decided to take me away to the forest from where I couldn’t find my way out.
“They then asked me for a ransom of N2.5m. One week after I had been with them, they were taking me somewhere in town when they saw a vehicle coming and they suspected they were security forces coming so they took cover. It was at that point that I was able to escape,”he said.
Earlier, Major General Yekini, who paraded the suspected kidnap kingpin, Seidu Muhammadu alongside other criminal suspects in Makurdi, said he (Seidu) was arrested by OPWS troops in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The force commander explained that the OPWS was currently engaged in breaking the supply chain of weapon proliferation in the country.
“The level of weapons proliferation across the country is alarming and we are doing our best to tackle it by targeting weapon manufacturers as a way of breaking the supply chain with a view to reducing the amount of weapons in circulation and curtailing the spate of armed banditry and other criminal activities in the country,” Yekini posited.
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