Police Parade Suspected Kidnappers In Osun

Three suspected kidnappers were yesterday paraded by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 11, Adeleye Oyebade, at the Zonal Command in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

The suspects, Jimoh Adamu Omotayo, 32, who is the leader of the armed gang, Abdullahi Budah, 52, and Umaru Ahmed, 35, allegedly abducted their victim, Salihu Ahmed, 46, on his farm at Agboye village near Okuku, the headquarters of Odo-Otin Local Government, around 8am, on February 26.

The suspects, who were armed with locally-made single barrel guns, allegedly blindfolded their victim and took him to a forest in Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, where he was held captive for 17 days.

The kidnappers were forced to release the victim without collecting the N3 million ransom they earlier demanded from his family when they noticed that the police were closing up on them.

Addressing reporters before the parade, Oyebade said the arrest was possible because of the upgrade in the police operations and the setting up of a technical platform for intelligence management by the zonal command.

He said: “The suspects were forced to release their victim without collecting the N3million ransom earlier demanded following aggressive manhunt for them by the police, who they knew were closing up on them. With the release of the victim by the suspects, the Zonal Technical Intelligence Response Unit led by SP Idowu Fapojuwo went ahead to arrest the suspects in their hideouts.”