Ondo State Security Network called Amotekun Corps have arrested nine notorious kidnappers while trying to collect ransom from the family members of their victims, SAVANNAH NEWS REPORTS.
The notorious gunmen led by Musa Abdullahi were arrested in Akunnu-Akoko in the Akoko Northwest Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria.
Savannah News gathered that the suspects kidnapped Mr Bello Audu from his house in the community and took him to the forest.
A lady identified as Mafimisebi Olamide was also amongst the victims intercepted and brutalized by the kidnapers.
The Commandant of the Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye said Audu was kidnapped from his house around 7.30 pm when observing Muslim prayer. He was with his abductors for five days where he was fed with dry cassava flakes (gari).
Parading the suspects, the security commander Adeleye, said three of the suspects were arrested when the men of the Corps pretended as the family of the victims that wanted to pay ransom to secure the release of the victim in their custody.
He disclosed that the three suspects were arrested and it led to the arrest of six other members of the gang.
Mr Bello, who is from Olorun, Kwara State, said: “I was in my house observing the 7:00 pm prayer as a Muslim when suddenly some men walked up to me on the mat and flogged me with a stick.
He said he was fed with a small quantity of Garri flakes without water for five days before he was rescued by Amotekun Corps.
Narrating her experience in the hand of abductors, Mafimisebi Olamide, a well known event planner in Nigeria, said she was going to Abuja, the federal capital territory when about six armed men suddenly came and crossed their way in Akunnu-Akoko, Ondo State.
She said why some passenges ran for their lives, she couldn’t make it with them because of where she sat in the bus.
According to our correspondent who visited the victims for interrogation in the Amotekun Corps office in Ondo State capital, Mafimisebi Olamide was flogged with a stick and ordered her to follow them to the forest where she was brutalized before she was rescued.
Granting interview, the Amotekun Corps Commander disclosed that in collaboration with other security agencies in the state, they are embarking on flushing criminals out of the forests in the state.
In his statement: “We have discovered that kidnappers have left towns and taken refuge in the forests. So, in collaboration with other security agencies in the state, we are embarking on flushing our forests of unscrupulous elements who kidnap people on the roadside and flee back into the forest.
“Criminals must leave our state and allow people going about their legitimate businesses to have peace of mind.”
