THE unexpected visit of mobile policemen led by the Commander, MOPOL 2, Keffi, Patrick Ejedawe, to Obadore street in Igando area of Lagos, weekend, sent shivers down the spines of the residents.
However, immediately the combat-ready policemen knocked on the gate of a massive building with high fence that hindered intrusion, a noticeable movement was suspected within. When the gate was forced open, the policemen were reportedly greeted by sporadic shots from a middle-aged man. The Police succeeded in disarming him after shooting him on the leg.
Still unable to fathom what the shooting was all about, the residents reportedly noticed about seven occupants of the building jumping through the high fence to the other side of the street, where they managed to escape. It was discovered, later, that the building had been used as a hide-out for kidnappers.
To confirm this, three men reportedly abducted from different areas of Lagos, were met in one of the rooms, blindfolded with their hands tied to the back.
To the amazement of all, when a search was conducted in the apartments, a catchment of weapons comprising three rocket launchers and three rockets, eight AK 47 magazines fully loaded with a total of 3,240 rounds of ammunition, four dynamites and assorted charms were discovered in the premises. Two of the suspected kidnappers were also arrested.
Crime Alert gathered that the bubble burst for the kidnappers, Saturday, after one of them, Kenneth Okonkwo, a native of Abia State, was arrested somewhere around Sango area of Ogun State, in his attempt to collect N2.8 million ransom from families of one of their victims, a medical doctor identified simply as Ene.
The victim, as gathered, was abducted while driving home around Afromedia in Okokomaiko area of Ojo, Lagos, on October 5, 2011 and was forced into the kidnapper’s Hummer jeep, with an initial ransom of N4 million demanded for his release.
His apprehensive family was said to have paid the amount in Abule-Egba area but never saw their bread winner, despite an additional demand of N2.8 million from the abductors. To beat the prying eyes of security agents, the kidnappers, as gathered, trailed families of their victims on motorbike and would collect the ransom whenever there was traffic.
Having agreed to pay the additional ransom, 29 year-old Kenneth was said to have directed the medical doctor’s family to Sango, but unknown to him, he was being trailed by a team of mobile Policemen from Lagos. As usual, when there was traffic, Kenneth reportedly tapped at their victim’s family car with the intention of collecting the money only to be arrested.
Narrating his three days ordeal inside the kidnapper’s den, Dr. Godwin Ene, 66, a surgeon said: “Last Thursday, I was on my way home from the office when a vehicle pulled up in front of me and four men alighted fully armed. They told me they were from the EFCC and were there to arrest me.
Because I was a retired surgeon and I don’t engage in shoddy deals, I knew they were lying. They dragged me into their vehicle, blindfolded me and subsequently handcuffed me with a local cuff, before I was taken to an unknown destination where I spent three days.
During my stay, my captors asked me to contact my family and they told them that my ransom was N600million. I told them that I don’t have such amount of money but they wouldn’t believe me.
While they were trying to coerce me into paying the money, they told me my partner paid them N500million to kill me and he has given them N150million and that he would give them the balance when he saw my corpse. I didn’t believe them because I have no partner.
I am just a retried surgeon and I am only running a factory to keep myself together. But later I told them that all I could afford was N30million.
Ongoing negotiation
First they disagreed and later said that my wife will be the one to bring the money to them and when she does, she would replace me in their den. The negotiation was still ongoing until the police came. The three days I spent in the kidnapper’s den would remain the most traumatic days of my life.
You can imagine a man of my age subjected to a torture of that nature. I was cuffed on both legs and hands and was fed with only water throughout my stay. I thank God that I am out and also thank the Nigeria police for rescuing my life”.
The second victim, Godwin Okonkwo, 56, who spent about three weeks in the kidnapers den, said: “I was on my way home from work on September 15, 2011, when a vehicle accosted me along my street in Okokomaiko area of Lagos State. Four heavily armed men alighted from the vehicle, and I asked them what they wanted.
They told me not to utter any word. They whisked me into their vehicle and zoomed off. While inside their vehicle, they blindfolded me and cuffed my hands with one of those local cuffs and then took me to an unknown destination.
The recovered arms and the suspects
After a long ride, I was brought into a house. I was still blindfolded, but this time, my legs and hands were cuffed and a tiny chain was also used to bind my leg and hand together, so that I could not stand or do otherwise. I was kept like that for three weeks and my captors kept beating me with machete.
They asked me to contact my family members and demanded N150million ransom. My children pleaded with them to take N10million but they refused and insisted on getting all the
money.
They only gave me bread and water throughout the period. They even threatened to kill me if my family doesn’t pay the ransom. My children, on their part, were helpless because they don’t have money but they managed to raise N10million after borrowing from people. I recognized one of the kidnappers. He is the son of Akaraka and he is from my home town in Awka in Anambra State.”
Pointing to one of the paraded kidnapers, Ene said: “This very boy is their commander. In fact, they call him chief. If I should open my back, you will not like the sight. I can not tell how the police came to my rescue. The only thing I can remember was that I felt some people pulled me out of the room and when they removed the blindfold, it was as if I was a baby opening my eyes for the first time.”
The third victim, Rodney Agaga , a US based Nigerian who is in the country to invest in a hotel business, said the kidnappers shot at the tires of his car, demobilized it before forcing him inside their vehicle. An initial ransom of N150 million, he said, was demanded by his abductors.
“ When I asked them where on earth they expected me to get such amount, they told me if I had the amount to build an hotel, then I should have such to part with. They apparently know me because they told me most things about myself. I stayed in their custody for five weeks, having paid the sum of N4 million”. I must confess that the Nigeria Police are indeed working”.
On the part of the arrested suspects, they both claimed to be junior members of the gang. For Kenneth Okonkwo, “ I have been suffering in the village without any job, until last year when one of my friends, Obinna came from Lagos looking very okay.
Obinna and I attended same primary school and I begged him to get me something to do in Lagos. So, two weeks ago, he called to say he had a job for me and invited me over. I came and he told me that all I needed to do was to help him collect money from someone and I agreed.
I collected N4 million first, from the people and was on my way to collect N2.8 million when the Police arrested me”. Asked if he was aware the said Obinna was into kidnapping, the 29-year-old Secondary School Certificate holder nodded and blamed his indulgence on poverty.
Like Kenneth, his alleged partner in crime, Azubuike Okafor said to have engaged the policemen in a shoot-out ,also claimed to have arrived Lagos three weeks ago after receiving an invitation from the same Obinna .
Said he, “ I swear, I am a small boy in the gang. My woes should be attributed to greed and lack of contentment. I knew Obinna in Onitsha, where we were into black market business. He later left and the next time I heard of him, I was told he had become rich. I contacted him on the phone and he invited me over.
On getting to his place, I was only cooking for them and the abducted persons. I could not challenge them because I was only living at their mercy. Besides, any time they came with any victim, they would lock the door from outside and go with the keys. I was never allowed to go in, neither was I given the keys.
But last week, as I was going to give one of the abductors food, I recognized him as my town’s man. I felt for him but could not do anything other than to give him food.
On the day of my arrest, I was in the kitchen cooking and was not aware the Police had come, neither did I know when my colleagues escaped”, he stated.
CULLED FROM VANGUARD NIGERIA
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