Police burst 12-man kidnapping gang on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

The Police Command in Oyo State has arrested no fewer than 12 suspects allegedly connected with cases of kidnapping at Onigari in Oluyole Local Government Area, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Ngozi Onadeko, paraded the suspects on Thursday at the Command’s Headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan.

The command also paraded 20 other suspects involved in alleged conspiracy, armed robbery, murder and impersonation as an army officer.

Onadeko said that owing to the rising cases of kidnapping on Lagos/Ibadan expressway and murder at Onigari area of Oluyole Local Government Area on Jan. 7, the command immediately swung into action deploying intelligence and tactical assets.

She said that the deployment at 3.30p.m., on Jan. 14, led to the arrest of one of the suspects, alias Maku-Maku, a suspected member of the kidnapping gang that had been terrorising travellers on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway.

The CP said that further investigation led to the arrest of other suspects while some were still at large.

Onadeko said the suspects confessed to have carried out the kidnapping operations that led to the death of one Oluwatosin Anwajoye, 45, at Onigari area of Lagos/Ibadan expressway on Jan.7.

In an interview with journalists, one of the suspects, a commercial motorcyclist, confessed to be the one supplying the gang members food and other items.

He said that N10,000 was paid to him for each errand he ran for the gang.

The commercial motorcyclist said the kidnappers promised to buy him a new motorcycle after their operation.

A victim of the gang, Folahan Olaleye, told journalists that his family was coming from Lagos on Dec. 24, 2021 at 8.00p.m., when they were attacked and kidnapped at Onigari area on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The victim said that he was shot while his daughter and pregnant wife were beaten.

He said that his wife and daughter were later released, but he was held in captivity and a ransom was demanded from his family.

Olaleye said that N2,750,000 ransom was eventually paid before he was released by his captors.

TheStar