Abia State | Police foil kidnap attempt, arrest suspects

Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad attached to the Abia State Criminal and Intelligence unit in Umuahia, have arrested a gang of kidnappers at Amavo Village in Owerrinta, along Enugu/ Port-Harcourt expressway.

The suspects paraded at the police officers mess in Umuahia by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeleye Oyebade, were Ifeanyi Monday, Ikenna Ubani, Uchenna Nwosu and Maduabuchi Sunday, while Uzoma James was reportedly on the run.

Oyebade said that SARS operatives intercepted one Toyota Corolla car with registration No. BE 396 EKY, while conveying the suspects on their way for a kidnap operation, adding that a search on them led to the recovery of two locally made guns, one single barrel gun, one plastic toy gun and one wooden toy gun.

He said, “One of the suspects took to his heels after the arrest and efforts is on top gear to re-arrest him. But the others have all confessed to the crime and will soon be charged to court appropriately.

“Our aim is to arrest kidnappers on the act and make the payment of ransom a thing of the past because where no ransom is paid, kidnapping will be buried permanently in state.

“We are sending a strong signal to other people interested in going into the business that kidnapping is no longer lucrative in Abia State.”

One of the suspects indentified as Uchenna Nwosu, who hails from Okigwe in Imo State, said his friend, Uzoma James, now at large, had called him to join his gang to rob a man in his village of his Toyota Corolla car against his wish.

He said, “I warned James that the journey we were about to embark on was risky and I’m a driver and not a robber. But he insisted that I should go with them and nothing will happen. He said one of his friends who promised to buy the car has already paid N400, 000.

“When we got to the village that night, we didn’t see the man and we left. But he said we must repeat the operation the next day. I begged him to allow me to go, but he refused.

“As we were going back to the man’s house around 4 am, the police stopped, searched and arrested us with our weapons.”

[Ogbonnaya Ikokwu/Punch]