11th October, 2010
Three suspected kidnappers have been arrested by the police in Lagos, South-West Nigeria.
The suspects are Obiora Ifeanyi Stephen Eze and Peter Emmanuel.
They were arrested around Mazamaza area where they had reportedly kidnapped one Innocent Duru.
Speaking with P.M.NEWS, the victim, a car dealer, alleged that his abductors called hum on Monday, 27 September, 2010 that they wanted to buy a car from him. But his would-be client turned out to be kidnappers. He said he was accompanied by Ifeanyi Obiora to the leader of the gang and they met him at Saint Paul’s Close, Satellite Town in Amuwo Odofin area where he was allegedly abducted at gunpoint.
The 56-year-old Duru from Anambra State said his abductors demanded for a ransom of N20Â million and Duru agreed to pay them after they had threatened to kill him.
The victim, who was held captive for three days without food or water, said he called his wife Mrs. Edith Duru, a petty trader to raise the sum of N200,000.
Mrs. Duru later informed the police who mounted survellaince at Alakija Bus stop along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. A member of the gang, Stephen, a 24-year Anambra indigene was subsequently apprehended and arrested by the cops.
Stephen then took the Police to their hideout, where one of them was killed while trying to evade arrest by jumping down from a three-storey building.
Another one escaped, but the remaining three were arrested. The suspects, however, denied the allegations levelled against them, while Ifeanyi Obiora, the leader of the gang, claimed that the victim owed him N350,000 which was supposed to be a refund from a bus he purportedly bought from Duru. The two other suspects, Stephen Eze and Peter Emmanuel, said they were not involved in the crime.
Speaking with journalists, Lagos State Police Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel A. Jinadu, advised Lagosians to always to shun unknown motorists who offer them free ride
—Dedeigbo Ayodeji