The Oyo State Police Command on Thursday announced its breakthrough in arresting some of the suspects linked to the cases of kidnapping at Onigari in Oluyole local government area, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
It also paraded some of the arrested escapees of Abolongo jail break as well as some other kidnap suspects who were arrested in a brothel at Akinyele area of Ibadan.
Addressing newsmen on the development at the Command’s Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, CP Ngozi Onadeko, said the conference became necessary in order for the Oyo State Police Command to account for some of the outstanding breakthroughs and accomplishments made by some of its finest tactical, operational and investigative departments through commitments, discipline, perseverance and remarkable acts of valour, in the onslaught against crime and criminality within the state and its environs.
A suspected kidnapper, Bashiru (surname withheld) a.k.a Maku-Maku, who was among the syndicate members terrorising commuters on Lagos/ Ibadan expressway, was paraded alongside two others, 27-year-old Babuga (surname withheld) and 30-year-old Mohammed (surname withheld).
Abubakar and others were arrested after they struck at Onigaari axis on the expressway on January 7, killed a commercial driver, shot a passenger and kidnapped four victims.
The suspects also reportedly confessed to having carried out the kidnapping operations that led to the death of one Oluwatosin Anwajoye, 45, at Onigari area of Lagos/Ibadan Expressway on January 7.
CP Onadeko added that after the reported kidnapping incident, the Oyo Police Command, apart from sending operatives into the forest surrounding the area to comb it for the rescue of the victims, swiftly deployed intelligence to fish out the perpetrators.
This, she said, led to Bashiru’s arrest, and during interrogation, he mentioned Babuga, Bellel, Ibrahim, Buyo, Habu Kosoko, Danliti and one with the appellation ‘On Top,’ currently at large, as members with whom he carried out the kidnap crimes.
Bashiru also confessed that on January 6, at about 8:00 p.m, he used his motorcycle to convey Bellel and Ibrahim into the bush at Onigaari where they alighted before striking the following day.
He opened up on his role as the supplier of food and hard drugs to the kidnap gang members, whenever they were in the forest.
The police commissioner also disclosed that preliminary investigation indicated that the arrested suspects had knowledge of the January 7 kidnap operations, while the forensic analysis of their phone numbers linked them with the crime.
Two of the victims, Opaleye Folahan and one Sekinat Tiamiyu were said to have identified the suspects as part of those who kidnapped them.
Folahan, who narrated his experience to journalists, said he was coming from Lagos with his pregnant wife and daughter when the kidnappers emerged at about 8:00 p.m. and shot him in the neck.
He stated further that they initially took him, his wife and daughter into the bush, but shortly after, set the wife and daughter free, in order to facilitate quick payment of ransom. Folahan said he paid N2.75 million as ransom before he was released.
Meanwhile, another six kidnap suspects who were arrested in a brothel at Akinyele area of Ibadan on January 11 at about 2:30 a.m, have also been paraded by the police.
According to the police: the six suspects, Adamu, Umaru, Sanda, Abubakar, Haruna and Aliyu (surnames withheld), were among inmates who escaped from Abolongo Correctional Centre on October 23, 2021.
They were arrested following an intelligence-driven surveillance by operatives of the State Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS), led by CSP Olawale Tiamiyu.
The third kidnap syndicate members also operating along Ibadan-Lagos Expressway who were arrested included Aliyu, Isiaka and Tambaya (surnames withheld), were also paraded.
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