16th May, 2012
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command has arrested a gang of kidnappers who allegedly collected a ransom of N5 million after kidnapping a 27-year-old man.
The seven suspects were arrested Sunday, some two weeks after they collected the money. Police detectives led by SP Abba Kyari swung into action immediately after the case was reported to the squad on April 24 by the victim’s father.
According to sources, information received from the phone of the victim’s female friend, who allegedly masterminded the kidnapping, helped the operatives to arrest all other suspects.The source said that all the suspects had confessed to the crime and disclosed that they were a seven-man gang.
The News Agency of Nigeria gathered that the police could only recover N1.6 million of the N5 million ransom which was paid to the syndicate.
Police sources told NAN that one of the suspects confessed to spending about N600,000 of the money on his wedding, while another also said that he settled his father’s medical bills of N300,000 from the ransom. The leader of the syndicate was also said to have confessed that he used some of the ransom to process travel documents for his girlfriend, who intended to travel to Britain.
The command’s spokesman, SP Joseph Jaiyeoba, confirmed that all the seven suspects were in detention.
Jaiyeoba added that the suspects would soon be charged to court.