REPORTER: UCHE NDEKE
The Anambra State Police command has arrested two wanted kidnap suspects linked to multiple abduction cases in the state.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tochukwu Ikenga who state this in Awka said operatives of the Rapid Response Squad Awkuzu, acting on credible intelligence, arrested the suspects Dauda Mohamed, aged 38 and Umar Ali also known as Barjini aged 50 at different locations in Anambra and Enugu states.
The Police spokesperson said the suspects confessed during interrogation to participating in several kidnapping operations in Anambra State and beyond.
Mr Ikenga explained that Umar Ali was identified during interrogation as the leader of the kidnap gang and responsible for coordinating logistics and supplying operational weapons.
He said that preliminary investigation by the police linked the suspects to the kidnapping of a victim in June this year at Divine Heritage Lodge, Ukwulu in Dunukofia Local Government Area, where armed men emerged from an uncompleted building, fired gunshots, abducted the victim and fled into a bush where they demanded a ransom of thirty million naira.
The Police Public Relations Officer said that the sum of fifteen million naira was eventually paid by the relatives of the victims after negotiations before the victim regained freedom after spending four days in captivity.
According to him the gang is suspected to have relocated from armed bandit enclaves in the North-West and established criminal operations in parts of the South-East, using sophisticated and dangerous weapons supplied by the gang leader to carry out kidnapping and armed robbery operations.
He said that
other members of the syndicate identified as Usman and Gongola are currently at large.
