How we planned to kidnap Femi Otedola —Suspects

THE Police, yesterday, said they have arrested an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ayobamide Adeyemi, a dismissed soldier, Ayodele Ibitayo and a rusticated student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Ikechukwu Daniel, who were members of a notorious abduction gang terrorizing the South Western part of the country.
Members of the gang were also said to have
attempted to kidnap billionaire oil mogul, Femi Otedola, with a plan to demand a ransom of N1 bllion before he would be released.
This is as the police also arrested five soldiers from the 102 GIDs Battallion, Zuma Barracks, in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, for attempting to kidnap a senator from the state.
The Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Don Awunah, in a statement, disclosed that the suspects, who were also fingered in the kidnap of former Minister of state for Education, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, were arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT.
Awunah said: “The arrest was achieved through coordinated intelligence gathering and deployment of technical investigative tools that spanned several weeks. The principal suspect, one Ikechukwu Daniel, a 28-year- old indigene of Imo State, who is the mastermind of the gang, was rusticated from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, due to his cult-related activities on campus in 2009/2010. Daniel also doubles as the IT guru of the kidnap gang with mastery of computer applications. He made damning revelations of their criminal exploits in the South West of the country.
“Another member of the gang, 29-year-old Adeyemi Kayode, a serving officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and a native of Ojoo in Ibadan, Oyo State, serves as a Personal Assistant to the Commandant, NSCDC, Oyo State Command. The suspect took undue advantage of his office to obtain the GSM number and location of their would be victim. He hatched the plan on how to kidnap the business magnate to make a demand of N1 billion ransom.’’
Continuing the Police said: “The third suspect, Ayodele Ibitoye, a native of Oyo in Ibadan, Oyo State, who is the marksman and armourer of the gang, claimed to have been dismissed from 213 Battalion Maiduguri of Nigeria Army as a Private in 2015. All the suspects made confessional statements revealing that they had successfully carried out several high profile kidnappings. Two AK47 rifles loaded with live ammunition were recovered from them. Efforts are currently being intensified to apprehend other members of the gang and extend investigation to their other criminal enterprise.”