The Delta State Police Command has arrested members of a kidnap syndicate that had been posing a threat in Oghara, Sapele, Warri and its environs.
According to a statement issued by the command’s spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, a 43-year-old woman (name withheld) was kidnapped by the armed syndicate on November 19, 2023, at about 21:00 hours in a tricycle along Shell Road Sapele in a ML-350 Mercedes Benz. The information was received.
According to Edafe, the victim was placed in the car, kept in the car until it ran out of fuel, and then placed in the tricycle. She was released on November 22, 2023 upon payment of a ransom of two million naira (#2,000,000).
The Police Commissioner, CP Wale Abass, detailed the members of the CP-DECOY unit, led by ASP Captain Julius Robinson, and instructed them to use all the technical information available to them to catch the perpetrators. As a result, on November 25, the team, with the assistance of the Sapele DPO, embarked on a sting operation and at about 11:00 a.m. on the same day, in the Amukpe area of Sapele Town, arrested a suspected syndicate gang leader from Opara Waterside community in Ethiope East LGA, Delta State, Morrison Godwin, a A 41-year-old man was arrested.
The suspect confessed to the crime and revealed that he intended to meet with other gang members on November 25, 2023 to strategize another kidnapping operation. Upon receiving this information, the team ambushed and arrested the other gang members on November 26: Raymond Echie (male, 46), who was in charge of negotiating and receiving the ransom; Felix Okoro (male, 40), one of the syndicate’s drivers; and the victim’s security guard They are Ohene Ogaga Sylvester (male, 45), Henry Edeki (male, 35), Ominike Sunday (male, 23), Jerusalem Sunday (male, 35) and Theophilus Akpofi (male, 29). All suspects confessed to the crime, admitted to various roles, and were identified by the victim,” the statement said.
During interrogation, the suspect Edafe revealed the location of the victim’s car, which was later recovered in Oghara town. Edafeh said that efforts are being intensified to recover the syndicate’s operational weapons.
