BENIN CITY: Operatives of the Edo State Police Command have recovered the bodies of kidnapped victims from a forest along the Benin-Lagos Expressway.
The victims were among those reportedly abducted last month from Iyowa community in Ekiadolor, near Benin City.
The recovery followed the arrest of a suspected member of a seven-man kidnapping syndicate said to be operating along the Benin-Lagos and Benin-Akure expressways. The suspect was arrested by operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit, VCRU, after an earlier gun battle with the gang in the forest.
The Commander of the VCRU, CSP Osagie Godspower, led journalists and health officials into the forest, where the bodies were recovered.
One of the survivors, whose mother was among those killed, said the kidnappers invaded their home in Iyowa community and abducted her, her mother and their maid.
She said three other families were later abducted and brought into the forest, making a total of four families held by the kidnappers.
According to her, the victims were forced to trek through the forest at night and allowed to rest during the day.
She narrated: “We stayed at this spot for two days. They asked my mother her age and she said 66. They also asked another woman, who said she was 45, and a small boy, who was 15 years old.
“We initially thought they were going to release them because of their age. But later in the evening, they took them down this way. After some arguments, they shot the other woman in the shoulder, and the bullet also hit my mother.
“The other woman died almost immediately, but my mother was still talking. I could hear her praying. Later, she started breathing heavily and then stopped. After about five minutes, they took us to another location where they also shot the boy through the shoulder and he died.”
The survivor said her family later paid N11 million ransom and provided other items before they were released. She added that other families also paid ransom before regaining their freedom.
The Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem, said the command recorded a major breakthrough in the case on May 19, when VCRU operatives sighted four members of the syndicate in the forest and engaged them in a gun duel.
She said several members of the gang escaped with gunshot wounds.
According to her, the command later arrested a 24-year-old suspect, identified as Haruna Musa, while he was allegedly attempting to receive treatment for a gunshot wound.
“We had a major breakthrough in this case on the 19th of May, when operatives of the VCRU sighted four members of the syndicate in the forest and engaged them in a gun battle. Many of them escaped with gunshot injuries,” she said.
“We had another breakthrough days later, following their trail, when we arrested 24-year-old Haruna while he was trying to receive treatment for his gunshot wound. He has since confessed to the crime and led us here to recover the two bodies, as well as the body of the 15-year-old boy, which we had evacuated earlier.
“We are still on the trail of the others, and we are confident that, in no time, the Violent Crime Response Unit will round up the remaining members of this kidnapping syndicate.”
Meanwhile, the suspect, Haruna Musa, confessed to being a member of the seven-man syndicate.
Speaking in Pidgin English, he said he previously worked as a cattle handler in Ogun State before he was invited by someone he described as his brother to take up another job.
According to him: “Na cattle I dey control. The Salah wey pass, no be this one, the other one, one of my brothers call me make I come control cow for Ogun State. But no be Fulani get am; na ordinary person get am when dem wan take do Salah.
“As dem sell the cow finish for Salah, that my brother come say make I come, say another work dey. Na so we take come here. When I see say na this kind work, I fear. If I tell dem say I no dey do, dem fit kill me. So I no get choice than to follow them.”
Police said efforts were ongoing to arrest other fleeing members of the syndicate.
