SEX LEADS TO ARREST OF THE NOTORIOUS EDO STATE KIDNAPPERS

Police offensive against menace…The last operation that nailed the gang.

FOR the past four years they had laid siege to Edo state, feeding fat on unsuspecting and hapless residents through hostage taking. Not a few prominent Edo indigens had sleepless nights and did all they could to assist security operatives to checkmate the menace.

The kidnappers most of them, school dropouts and motor-cyclist operators did rake in several millions of naira from their ungodly business and became eventual ‘big boys’ in the city. Whereas, the wise ones among them left the state for other states of the federation and diversified, some remained at their operational base; the heartbeat of the nation still perpetrating the crime.

Two members of the notorious gang even left the shores of the country in pursuit of a more dignified endeavour; but the lucrativeness of kidnapping soon brought them back together and they became much more vicious. However, they were not aware that it was no longer business as usual in the state. The Edo state Police Command under Mr. Olayinka Balogun had intensified efforts against the menace and was all out for these enemies of the state.

They had spread their dragnet across the nook and crannies of the state even as motorized patrols by police men became much more regular. As usual, the seven man gang in their recent operation which later backfired had kidnapped a middle-age woman (names withheld), blindfolded and drove her into a camp by Ikpoba hill where she was held hostage.

They got her husband telephone number and of course, called him to pay a N10m ransom or have his wife killed. Three days on, the victim’s husband who had reported the matter to the police was instructed to be playing along with the kidnappers’ antics. But something happened while expecting to receive their loot. Three members of the gang detailed to keep watch over their victim had developed likeness for her.

They struck a deal to sleep with her and let her go afterwards. Left with no other option, the defenseless woman consented to the ‘deal’ and she had her hands and legs untied while the band used in blindfolding her was equally removed. The men had their turns, became exhausted and slept off.

Quickly and smartly too, the mother of four removed a GSM handset from the chest pocket of one of the kidnappers, tiptoed to a corner and called her husband who was at the time with a team of anti-kidnappers’ squad and described the area she was being held hostage. Before long, the team led by the Officer in Charge, OC, stormed the camp and started combing it.
Their weapons.

While the search continued, one of the kidnappers had woken up and was coming out of the forest to the expressway ostensibly to buy some loaves of bread and sachet water for the woman as well as for themselves. But he was confronted by two plain-cloth detectives who demanded for his mission in the forest that hour.

Initially, he feigned ignorance but buckled later and took the detectives to the spot where two other members and the woman were. They were promptly arrested and taken to the station. This was however, without the knowledge of other gang members. It was therefore, the confession of the arrested ones that led to the arrest of other members of the syndicate including the leader of the gang who was declared wanted by the police since 2009.

Individually, they narrated to Crime Guard how they got involved in the devilish business and their respective roles. First to speak was the kingpin said to be on the wanted list of the police since 2009. He gave his name as Izegbe Emmanuel.

“Sir, it has happened, it has happened; so there is no need to lie. I was into full time kidnapping since 2009 and I made quite a lot of money…about N12m. I relocated to Lagos when some of my members namely Emmanuel Chukwu, Instrumental, Isoyen and Agbaje got arrested and it became clear that the police was after me. I was moving from one hotel to another in Benin but I do not know how the police always get wind of the hotel I was hiding, so I resolved to relocate to Lagos.

“In Lagos, I gave my life to God and to confirm that, I went to the Synagogue Church of All Nation. For one month I could not see him but one fateful day, he called me out and screamed ‘hard man’; you have committed so many sins and your sins shall soon fetch you out. But if you truly want to give your life to Christ, close your eyes and kneel down. I obeyed and did not know when I started confessing. Later, he told me that he has cast out the crime in me and that I was free. I was so happy and told him that I was an artiste, that I write and sing good christian songs.
one of the kidnappers, Izegbe Emmanuel

“He now said I should go ahead and do a promo and that if it is good, he would sign me on for his church. This was how I settled down for my God given talent; which is singing. I do R&B and I have performed at various functions in Lagos. Most popular comedians and musicians in Lagos state are my friends. Any time they want to perform, they would invite me and that was how I became popular in the entertainment industry.

“From the huge money I made, I opened a musical studio and named it Wosho-free Entertainment. I gave it the name because I felt I was free from all kinds of criminality. But I did not know that casting out of the devil by the man of God did not work. According to our discussion, I went to the studio and made a song and was about going to deliver it to him on a Sunday when Police men rounded me up in Lagos. I thought the man of God’s prayers had delivered me but I now know that anyone who commits a sin must go to hell fire.”

Next to speak was Charles Okodomi, a 30 year-old Irua Edo state born motor-cyclist. According to him, “To say the truth, I was a rubber tapper in the village after I lost my parents. I am the only surviving child of my parents. Five of my siblings have died. When tapping rubber was no longer lucrative, I traveled to Lagos to hustle. In Lagos, there was nobody to live with, so I spent three months staying under the Mile 2 bridge. There, I hustled and made some money but not through robbery; where I traveled back to Benin and bought a motor cycle. That was how I started Okada job.

One day one of my friends called Eboo called me and said we should ride towards Ramart Park and there we diverted into a bush path. I demanded to know where we were going, but he said I should not worry. That was how we went into the forest where I met a woman blindfolded. He announced to me that the woman was kidnapped and that I have been detailed to keep watch over her adding that two other men were on their way to join me.

He gave me some money and left and soon, I was joined by Babab K and Fedeco. It was Fedeco that suggested that we should sleep with the woman and let her go since after three days no money had been paid. It was me that untied the woman and asked to go only for us to see some men holding torchlight and ordered us not to move. That was how we were arrested.”

Another member of the gang who gave his name as Julius Aramefor, an Irua Edo state born professional commercial driver who claimed that he does not actively participate in the kidnap but only sell cartridges to his members also spoke. “Sir, I do not follow the kidnappers into the bush but my responsibility is to procure cartridges for my members and after collecting the ransom, they give me little money; that is just all I know about the whole thing.”

Whereas, Anthony Enoma, David Osana alias Biggy, Gideon Osahia also claimed they do not actively participate in the kidnap, Fred Okor the man who claimed he traveled to South Africa having made so much money two years ago and who had earlier denied knowledge of Police claims that he was a member of the gang finally opened up to say that they were all actively involved in the business of kidnapping.

According to him, “. Oga, even if we are all going to die now, I must tell you the truth because I know by that, God will accept my soul. I was lying initially but something just told me that if I continue to lie, God will not forgive me. We are all actively involved. We have been kidnapping for over six years now. I have known Biggy for the past 16 years and all what we have been doing is crime. Anybody that says he has no idea of what kidnapping is all about is deceiving himself.

“We have all made money through the deal and that is how I could travel to South Africa. Biggy, everybody invested his money in other business. Biggy was even an ex-convict and we met at Ramart park two years ago after he was released before I traveled outside the country. I was dealing on tissue papers and CD Players in far away South Africa but I was among those deported over Yellow fever card palaver and that was how we met and re -converged. Since I came back from South Africa, we have done two ‘shows’ ; one in Auchi and the woman that led us into this present problem.

Initially when Biggy told me he was still into the ‘show’ when we met after my deportation, I frowned at it because I had diversified but he convinced me to say that he had even recruited more men and that the ‘show’ is much more lucrative now. That was how I gave in. Please now that I have confessed, I need forgiveness for the sake of my children and wife.”

But the police through its public relations officer, ASP Etim Bassey said the law would take its course. “Whatever they may claim to be, whatever role they claimed to have played in this heinous crime, at the end of the investigation, they would all be arraigned to face appropriate punishment”.