Lagos State Police Command has rescued the daughter of Special Adviser to Kwara State Governor on Political Matters, Miss Sa-adat Bibire, winner of a beauty pageant and Alhaji Hammed Fashola, an oil and gas dealer, from kidnappers’ dens in Delta and Lagos states, respectuvely.
Parading the suspects yesterday, Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, said a massive manhunt was launched to rescue the victims and apprehend the kidnappers.
Parading the suspects yesterday, Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, said a massive manhunt was launched to rescue the victims and apprehend the kidnappers.
The first set of suspects identified as Kinsley Chukwuma, Kelvin Igah and Victor Igah, were allegedly involved in the kidnap of Alhaji Fashola, while Patrick Ifada and others at large were involved in the kidnap of Miss Bibire.
Chat212 learned that Aderanti deployed one team to Warri, Delta State, and after seven days, the victim was rescued in a house on the outskirts of Ozoro town in Isoko Local Government Area.
Another team tracked the kidnappers of Alhaji Fashola to their hideout at 18, Odeniyi Street, off Bola Road, Isheri Oshun, Lagos State. The victim was chained and kept in a toilet.
He was rescued, while three of the kidnappers were arrested.
Modus operandi
It was gathered that the kidnappers of Miss Bibire posed as Alhaji Aliko Dangote on Facebook and offered to make her brand ambassador of Dangote Noodles.
The victim proceeded to Warri from Lagos to meet the fake Aliko Dangote and was subsequently kidnapped, and N20 million ransom demanded from her father.
The father was directed to transfer the ransom into a bank account in Malaysia.
According to the Police boss, efforts to arrest the remaining gang members are in top gear as investigation continues.
‘Why I joined gang’
One of the suspects, Patrick Ifada, 23, explained his role in the kidnap saga: “I accepted to join the gang because of the money involved. We opened a fake Facebook account pretending to be Alhaji Aliko Dangote and we convinced her to come over to Delta State to meet the businessman.
“At first, our ransom was N20 million. When they were not forthcoming with the money, we brought it down to N15 million and then N10 million. I was the one staying with the victim in our hideout.
“We were using the quarters of one of our members, Destiny. We are five in number and I was promised a huge sum.
“Other gang members are Destiny, Marcus Omajuwa, Ugada and Chuka. We are all students of Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, ND 1. I was studying Computer Science.
“She was in our hideout for about two weeks. We asked the Special Adviser to pay the ransom into a Malaysian account that one Fred helped us to set up.
“None of us raped her. Destiny told us we were only going to make money from her family, and not to assault her.
“We were feeding her. We gave her fast foods, Eba and Indomie. She was kept in Onitsha Street, Ozoro, Delta State. It was inside a private school hostel.”
The wife of one of the suspected kidnappers was also arrested.
