Oyo State Police Command has arrested a kidnap kingpin after a foiled attempt and other 28 suspects for various criminal activities in the state.
The suspected kidnapper, name withheld, was alleged to have written a threat letter to his victim, demanding N15 million ransom.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, who paraded the suspects at the command headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan at the weekend, told newsmen that the victim who resided at 7up Road, Oluyole area, received a call on his mobile phone from an unknown person who identified himself as the kingpin of a dreaded kidnapping syndicate.
Osifeso said, “The suspect informed their mark that they had in their possession detailed information about daily routine including work and family and further threatened that they had concluded plans to abduct him and his family members.
“In a bid to confirm their seriousness, the suspect(s) further went ahead by sending images (pictures) of the victim’s living room and office to establish that he has valid information about him and subsequently demanded for a ransom of N15 million from his mark, sternly warning him about the dangerous repercussions of involving the Police.
“The terrified victim later reported this incident to the state Commissioner of Police, who immediately directed the command Monitoring Unit to fish out the criminal kingpin and anyone connected with the crime.
“Sequel to this directive, discreet investigations were initiated by the command’s monitoring unit which led to the apprehension of one Abdulazeez Faisal around Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Upon interrogation, he voluntarily confessed to the crime and also gave useful information that led to the arrest of another suspect.”
In a related development, the command also arrested 28 other suspects for various criminal activities, including car and motorcycle theft, armed robbery and murder.
The PPRO said a family of three including a couple and one of their blood relations were among the seven suspects arrested for dispossessing cyclists of their motorbikes across the length and breadth of the state.
He said, “On March 12, 2023, at about 0530hrs, members of a notorious armed robbery syndicate who specialize in attacking commercial motorcyclists and dispossessing them of their motorcycles intercepted a victim while going about his commercial motorcycle business.
“The armed robbers inflicted severe bodily injuries on the motorcyclist with a cutlass and equally dispossessed him of his TVS motorcycle and fled from the scene.
“The victim was later rescued in the pool of his blood and rushed to the hospital but he gave up the ghost due to the severity of the injuries inflicted on him by the armed robbers.
“The incident was reported at Idi-Aro Division, Ibadan and while effort was being made to fish out the hoodlums, on March 14, 2023 at about 0600hrs, the same set of armed robbers attacked another motorcyclist at another desolate location equally dispossessing him of one Bajaj motorcycle at gunpoint.” He stated.
He explained that the incident was equally reported at the same Division and in the course of their preliminary investigation, three of the armed robbers were later arrested.
