7th November, 2021
By Paul Iyoghojie
Operatives of the Special Weapons and Tactical Team (SWAT) of the Nigeria Police have arrested a businesswoman, Grace Sunday, 28, for allegedly recruiting two suspected kidnappers to abduct a pharmacist, Evans Nnadim at Ejigbo area of Lagos.
She allegedly collected the sum of N7.7m from his account before freeing him the third day and escaped to Benue State.
Also arrested alongside the woman were the suspects the police identified as Chima Oyodo, 31, and Izuchukwu Oyudo, 38, all from Anambra State.
Items recovered from the suspect, according to the police include one infinix phone valued N95, 000 belonging to the victim and other dangerous weapons.
Police alleged that the incident occurred in April, 2021 when the woman invited the victim to her apartment at Ejigbo area of Lagos for discussion on how the victim would be able to supply drugs to a hospital owned by her uncle unknown to the pharmacist that she had stationed two suspects inside her apartment to kidnap him.
Police further alleged that immediately the victim entered the woman’s apartment for the discussion of the drugs supply, the kidnap suspects came out from nowhere and descended on the victim armed with a gun, collected his phone, ATM card, tied him with a rope and increased the volume of their electronic gadgets to prevent neighbours from hearing what was going on inside their apartment.
The police also alleged that the suspects used the ATM to withdraw the sum of N7.7m from the account of the victim before freeing him the third day.
The businesswoman and the suspects, according to the police hurriedly pack out their belonging from their apartment and relocated to Benue State.
Nemesis, however, caught up with the suspects when the victim reported the incident to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP in charge of SWAT at Adeniji Adele, DCP Durosimi Olatoye who directed his crack team led by Supol Rasheed Ganiyu to fish out the suspects anywhere they could be found.
The police team, after weeks of intelligence gathering tracked the suspect to Benue State, arrested them and brought them back to Lagos.
The suspects were charged before the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos on a six-count charge of armed robbery.
The plea of the suspects was not taken following the application for remand presented before the court by the Police Counsel, Charles Onwumere, urging the court to remand the suspects at the correctional facility to enable the police duplicate the case file and forward it to the Department of Public Prosecution, DPP for legal advice on the matter.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mr A.O Alogba ordered that the suspects be remanded at the Ikoyi correctional facility pending DPP’s advice on the matter and adjourned the case till 17 November, 2021 for DPP’s advice report.