Delta State police command public relations officer, Mrs Celestina Kalu, told newsmen in Asaba that the suspect, Peter Nweke who hails from Umumba Ndiagu in Ezeagu local government area of Enugu State admitted in a fresh interrogation that he and his gang members collected the N12million ransom.
The suspect, according to the police image maker, said that he had contacted one Ifeanyi Chukwuemeka from Issele-Uku in Delta State who linked him to one of Okonjo’s family members that helped them to perfect the kidnap plan.
He said the suspect claimed that Chukwuemeka disguised as a corps member seeking assistance and entered the compound before they made away with Mrs Kamene Okonjo.
Nweke also told the police that the gang abducted a pastor’s wife and her friend as well as her brother in Uguoba, Oji River in Enugu State in October 2014, adding that they demanded N4million but later got N1.2million from the victim.
Mrs. Kalu disclosed that the Anti-kidnap Unit of the State Police Command arrested a suspect who escaped to Cotonou after the kidnap of Mrs. Okonjo, adding that the suspect resurfaced in 2015 with another gang which included Ifeanyi Chukwuemeka and Alli Sali from Adamawa, both residing in Sabon Kashua, Asaba in Delta State.
She said the suspect has been in kidnapping business for four years and claimed that poverty drove him into the crime, adding that investigation was ongoing.