Amotekun finds woman dead in captivity, rescues two abductees from forest

By Boye Oyeyemi

Operatives of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun Corps, have rescued two kidnap victims from a forest in Oke-Igbo after a 72-hour intelligence-led operation, while a woman abducted with them reportedly died before she could be revived.

The victims were rescued by the Amotekun Special Squad in collaboration with the Department of State Services and other security agencies following a distress call over the abduction.

According to the Corps Commander, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, nine operatives were deployed after receiving information about the incident and began intelligence gathering, bush combing and other measures to locate the victims.

Adeleye, who disclosed this on Monday while parading 14 suspects arrested for various offences in the state, said the operation was complicated by the kidnappers’ attempt to mislead security agencies with false geolocation information.

He said the operatives eventually located the victims several kilometres from the point of abduction, deep inside the forest, and successfully secured the release of the two surviving victims.

However, Adeleye said the female victim was found unconscious when the operatives reached the hideout but could not survive the ordeal, while one of the rescued victims, 38-year-old Adetan Adebanjo Adedayo, said they had been abducted on August 3 while working on a farm.

Adedayo said the kidnappers, who were armed with AK-47 rifles, tied him up and took him into the forest before abducting another woman from a nearby farm, adding that they demanded N100 million ransom from each family and that no ransom was paid before their rescue.

Meanwhile, Adeleye disclosed the arrest of suspected kidnappers and cattle rustlers operating around Ore, Ode-Aye, Ofosu and Omotosho, as well as suspects allegedly involved in firearm possession, vandalism and theft, assuring residents that security agencies had intensified forest surveillance and border patrols while urging them to provide timely information.