The police in Oyo state they arrested no less than 12 suspects allegedly related to kidnapping cases in Onigari in Oluyole local government area on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
State Police Commissioner Ngozi Onadeko paraded the suspects on Thursday at the Command Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that the commando also paraded 20 other suspects involved in alleged conspiracy, armed robbery, murder and identity theft as an army officer.
Ms. Onadeko said that due to the increasing cases of kidnapping on the Lagos/Ibadan highway and killings in the Onigari area of the Oluyole Local Government Area on January 7, the command immediately went into action and deployed tactical assets and Intelligence.
He said the deployment at 3:30 pm on January 14 led to the arrest of one of the suspects, known as Maku-Maku, a suspected member of the kidnapping ring that had been terrorizing travelers on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway.
The CP said further investigation led to the arrest of other suspects while some were still at large.
Ms. Onadeko said the suspects confessed to carrying out the kidnapping operations that led to the death of Oluwatosin Anwajoye, 45, in the Onigari area of the Lagos/Ibadan highway on January 7.
In an interview with journalists, one of the suspects, a commercial motorcyclist, confessed to being the one who supplied the gang members with food and other items.
He said he was paid N10,000 for each errand he ran for the gang.
The commercial motorcyclist said the kidnappers promised to buy him a new motorcycle after the operation.
A victim of the gang, Folahan Olaleye, told reporters that his family was coming from Lagos on December 24, 2021 at 8:00 pm, when they were attacked and kidnapped in the Onigari area on the Lagos-Ibadan highway.
The victim said he was shot while beating his daughter and his pregnant wife.
He said his wife and daughter were later released, but he was held captive and ransom was held from his family.
Olaleye said a ransom of N2,750,000 was eventually paid before his captors released him.
(YAYA)