Police bust 3-man kidnap gang, rescue 30-yr-old woman

LAGOS — Police in Lagos State, yesterday, said
they have arrested a three-man gang of
kidnappers, who specialised in kidnapping
young boys in Lagos and Ogun states.
This was as 37-year-old Idowu Ajibola has
been arrested by policemen attached to the
Area 'E' Police Command in Festac, Lagos, for
allegedly abducting a 30-year-old woman, for
three years.
Lagos Deputy Police Public Relations Officer,
Damasus Ozuani, who paraded the suspects
before newsmen, said the three kidnappers
were currently being detained by the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
Ozuani, who identified the suspects as
Olalekan Benjamin, Gbenga Sholaja and Samson
Somorin, said they were arrested when the
Divisional Police Officer at Igando Police
Station, Ben Osuji, received an intelligence
report on the gang's activities and caught a
member of the gang at 12, Olowojeunjeje
Street, Egan, Igando, Lagos.
He said: "The DPO at Igando, apprehended
Benjamin and later transferred him to SARS for
further investigation. During interrogation at
SARS, the suspect confessed and named some
of his gang members as Sholaja and Shomorin,
based in Alagbado, Lagos and Owode-Ijako,
OgunState, respectively.
"The officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari,
arrested the two suspects from their various
hideouts. They confessed to have kidnapped
three children, one from Omole Phase 1,
another from Alagbado area, while the third,
was from Owode-Ijako, OgunState and
collected various amounts as ransom from
their parents.
"We also discovered during interrogation that
Benjamin is a jailbird, who was imprisoned for
a similar case in 2009"
Kidnap
Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered that Modupe
Brown was a 400 level student of Business
Administration at LagosState university, LASU,
when she was abducted by Mr. Idowu Ajibola
and kept in captivity for three years.
It was further gathered that on September 9,
operatives from the Area 'E' Command,
following an intelligence report, stormed
Sagamu, OgunState, and rescued the victim.
They arrested one Ebun Idowu, the alleged
abductor's mother, who watched over the
victim, while the abductor was arrested at
Idumota area of Lagos.
Ozuani, who also paraded the suspects, said:
"The suspect cunningly camped the victim at
three different locations during the period of
incarceration: Osogbo in Ogun State, for six
months; Bariga in Lagos, for another six
months, while they spent over two years in
Sagamu, Ogun State.
"The suspect, who hails from Abeokuta,
OgunState, is a primary school drop-out.
"He forcefully impregnated the victim, who
had a baby girl with deformities because of the
abductor's refusal to have the baby immunised
against polio virus."
'She's my lover'
When Vanguard interviewed Ajibola, he
described Brown as his lover and that they had
been cohabiting for three years.
He said: "She told me she wanted to run away
with me because her parents do not want her
to get married to a man of her choice. I told
her that I don't have money but she said I
shouldn't worry, that she will look for a way
out.
"Some few days later she paid N200,000 into
my account and we travelled to OsunState.
Because of the nature of my job, we were
moving from one place to the other. I am
surprised that the police came to my house
and arrested me."
'He hypnotised me'
However, Brown insisted that she was
hypnotised and abducted by Ajibola in 2010.
She said that before her abduction, she has
never met Ajibola.
She further added that Ajibola accosted her
when she was about to pay her schools fees.
Brown said: "I lost consciousness the moment
he touched me and he asked me to go back to
my house and bring all my belongings to his
house.
"That was how we started living as husband and
wife. Any time I make attempts to go,
something will tell me not to go and in the
process he impregnated me.
"He moved me from place to place and
prevented me from immunising my child. I
regained consciousness recently and I picked
up a phone and called my mother, who
brought in the police."