Ondo Amotekun rescues six victims, arrests two kidnappers in Kogi State

Temitope Adedeji, Akure

The Ondo State Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun Corps, has arrested two suspected kidnappers and rescued six victims in Kogi State.

The victims were kidnapped in the late hours of March 22, while they were rescued on March 24, and all the suspects arrested on March 26.

Westernpost gathered that the six persons, who were traveling from Ondo town to Kaduna State, were abducted by the gunmen on their way.

According to reports, the victims were three males, three females, while one of them, a 23-year-old female Corps member was identified as Blessing Sunday from Ondo town.

Blessing was reported to have contacted men of the Amotekun Corps in Ondo and notified them of their kidnap on their way to Kaduna.

Men of the Corps in Ondo town division, set out a rescue team in search of the kidnapped victims and discovered that they were in a town in Kogi State, where they were kept captive

The collaborated efforts of the Amotekun with security men in Kogi State paid off as the victims were rescued with the perpetrators apprehended.

Confirming the incident, the Corps Commander in Ondo State, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said: “We got a call from a family member of a passenger who is an indigene of Ondo State, from Ondo town that one of their family members, who was on her way to orientation camp in Kaduna State had been kidnapped.

“As at that time, it was late in the night. Hours after the incident, we succeeded in getting the number with which the kidnappers used in contacting the family of the victim, demanding for N10million ransom and we did the tracking immediately.

“We got their location which showed that they were somewhere around Ijara in Kogi State, not too far from Kabba.

“We deployed our men from Ondo to the nearest local government to the location in Kogi State, who worked alongside the security agency over there for a successful operation.

“We were there for almost two days, mounting pressure on them. We did lots of tracking to get to their location.

“They wanted N10 million, but we were able to reduce it to N2million. We stylishly agreed and asked them to send an account number where the money would be sent. We sent N1million into the account and tracked the owner of the account. We realized it was a First Bank account in Kogi State.

“We went after the kidnappers and with the support of the DPO of the affected area, we succeeded.”

The Amotekun boss disclosed that eventually, two suspects were arrested, including the one who owns the account in which the money was paid into.

Akogun Adeleye, who is also the Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor on Security Matters, said the two suspects have been handed over to the Kogi State Police Command, while the six victims were safely rescued.

“We were able to discover three locations and we realised that the victims were right in the middle of the kidnappers and we ensured that they were rescued unhurt,” he added.