Three more suspects have been arrested by the police over last Friday’s kidnap incident in the Agbeku community of Ifelodun Local Government in Kwara State.
It was the third time suspected armed kidnappers attacked the community within two months.
The three suspects were reportedly arrested on Sunday as a discreet police investigation continued into the spate of kidnap incidents in some communities in the Kwara South Senatorial District of the state.
They were kept in custody at the Igbaja Divisional Police Headquarters.
DAILY POST reports that during last Friday’s attack, two persons from the same family including the father, were killed while three others were abducted.
The three abducted persons included a Reverend father, S. B. Oladuni, ECWA Igbaja DCC Chairman, a woman said to be the wife of the head of the family killed during the attack and one other person.
While a N20m ransom was placed on the Reverend by the kidnappers, N30m ransom was placed on the woman and N3m on the third person.
In a phone chat with DAILY POST on Monday, the traditional ruler of Agbekuland, Oba Abdulazeez Shola Agboola, said the police investigation was ongoing to get to the root of the kidnap saga in the community.
He also confirmed the ransoms placed on the three victims by the kidnappers.
In a related development, two victims of the kidnap incident which occurred at Ora town still in Ifelodun local government of the state two weeks ago, were released on Monday morning according to credible sources.
Efforts to reach the police authorities on Monday proved abortive.
The Kwara State Police Command had at the weekend arrested seven suspected kidnappers in the Kwara South Senatorial District of the state.
According to the state police Commissioner, Victor Olaiya, the arrest of the suspects was a sequel to the disturbing incidents of kidnapping in some parts of Kwara South, especially in Ora, Oke-Ode and other areas in Ifelodun Local Government Area.
He said the command, after due consultation resulting from highly potent intelligence gathered, led to the formation of a powerful team comprising men drawn from the Counter Terrorism Unit, Anti-Robbery, Anti-Kidnapping, Anti-Cultism, Anti-Narcotic, Explosive Ordnance Department (EOD), Police Mobile Force (PMF), and Police Medical.
Olaiya said the team was handed a distinct directive to comb the bushes and forests in the identified areas, arrest criminals, find, and recover arms and ammunition, rescue victims and clear the bushes of criminal elements.
“The operation began on 1/11/2023 with a positive outcome recorded. Some of the successes were the arrest of Seven suspected kidnappers named, UMARU MOHAMMODU A. K. A. YELLOW ‘M’, MOHAMMODU MOHAMMODU A. K. A. KERIMI ‘M’, GARUBA ABUBAKAR ‘M’, ILIASU USMAN ‘M’, IBRAHEEM ABUBAKAR ‘M’, USMAN HARUNA ‘M’ AND UMARU BELLO ‘M’ (INFORMANT).
“A cash sum of #1, 736,000.00 was recovered during a search of their hideout,” he added.
Meanwhile, the seven suspects arrested in the operation and named above have been arraigned in court and are presently remanded in prison custody. Vigorous efforts are on to apprehend the perpetrators of this recent unfortunate incident.
