Two kidnappers who killed their victims after collecting ransom from their families have been arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command.
The operation, by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Command, had led to the recovery of the corpses of the victims.
The squad, it was learnt, made the breakthrough in cracking the case of the kidnapped victims barely five days after the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, commended them for their achievements.
According to available information, two of the seven kidnappers who abducted several persons last year: Chukwuma Bartholomew and Igwe Monday, were arrested through technical investigations on June 28, 2024 at about 6:20pm.
The arrest came six months after the last operation in which their victim, 71-year-old Sunday Adekunle Ifelaja, popularly known as Adeife, did not return home after his kidnappers collected ransom.
However, it was not as if the gang did not carry out any kidnap for ransom after that of Adeife, who was taken on December 31, 2023 and Femi Ogunyemi, whom they abducted on November 23, 2023.
Indeed, according to information available , they were behind the recent kidnap of some Chinese and Nigerians on the Sagamu-Benin Expressway.
The gang was, however, forced to release the Chinese and others they kidnapped following the pressure on them by the hard working Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Ogun State Police Command.
The search for the members of the seven-man gang by the Anti-Kidnapping Section of the Ogun State Police Command began last year after they killed Oluwaseun Oworu, who they kidnapped at about 2:30am on July 29, 2023 at his residence, 38, Odesina Street, Odosenbadejo, Ojowo, Ijebu-Igbo.
They robbed Oworu of his properties, including a Point of Sale machine issued to him by Monie Point.
They stormed the house of 34-year-old Ogunyemi at Abusi area of Ijebu-Igbo on November 23, 2023 at about 10:10pm.
After abducting him, the criminal elements made a video of him and sent it to his family via WhatsApp to demand a ransom.
However, after collecting the ransom, with the PoS stolen from Oworu, they refused to release him.
They did the same to 71-year-old Ifelaja, who they kidnapped in his farm house on December 31, 2023 at about 10pm.
After collecting the ransom, with the PoS taken from Oworu, they also did not release him.
Source ( Eagle online)