BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
Five members of a kidnap syndicate terrorizing Obada Oko and its environs have been arrested by operatives of Ogun State police command.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspects, Aliu Manya, Usman Abubakar, Abayomi Olayiwola, Nasiru Muhammad and Bello Usman were arrested, following information received by policemen attached to Obada oko divisional headquarters that the men were sighted on two motorcycles inside the forest at Eleja area of Obada Oko, Ewekoro Local Government Area.
Upon the information, Oyeyemi said the Divisional Police Officer, Obada Oko Division, Chief Superintendent of Police, 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.
Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said items recovered from them were illicit drugs such as packs of tramadol, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, three cutlasses, eskay and two motorcycles with registration numbers MEK 504 VC and ODE 423 VC, as well as cash sum of N73,000.00.
He explained that 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.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to anti kidnapping unit of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for discreet investigation.
He also directed that other members of the gang should be hunted for and brought to justice.
Bankole therefore appealed to members of the public to assist the police by giving them useful information that will assist in tracking down the criminals within their areas.
