Police Parade 22 Kidnap Suspects in Delta

By Amos Igbebe
With tear ridden eyes, 22 suspected kidnappers and armed robbers who were paraded by the Delta State Police Command in Asaba, for involvement in armed robbery and kidnapping, swore never to be involved in kidnapping again as they blamed their ordeal on friends who unknowingly implicated them leading to their arrest.
The 22 suspects gave various discordant accounts against the allegations of their involvement in kidnapping, even as one David Oyenose with tearful eyes said “if I participated in this kidnapping let God not allow me go free but if I did not kidnap and they brought me here God will set me free”.
The atmosphere which was ridden with cries from the suspects drawn majorly from the Delta Central axis of the state was tense as the suspected kidnappers were led away in handcuffs awaiting prosecution in the courts to determine their complicity in the crime or otherwise.
The suspects who were majorly youths of between ages 19 and 33 were males many of who were involved in menial jobs to cater for their families in the communities of Delta Central Senatorial axis and a few from South and North.
The State commissioner of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, who paraded them before journalists at the State Police Headquarters, said the suspects were involved in the crime between early December of 2015 and the first week of January 2016 but with the doggedness of the police in the state, the hoodlums were apprehended from various parts of the state.
According to him, the arrest of the suspect was a major breakthrough of the police in the state as the action has reduced the number of kidnappers in the state, just as he explained that the kidnapped monarch of Ubulu Uku Kingdom in Aniocha South council area, HRM Akaeze Edward, Ofulue III by suspected herdsmen was yet to regain freedom.
He said the kidnappers had, however, contacted the family of the monarch and demanded for ransom, he said kidnap rescue operations required careful actions so as not to endanger the life of the kidnap victim.
The Police Commissioner said the hoodlums were arrested in major towns of Otu Jeremi, Ughelli South; Ozoro, Isoko North; Asaba, Oshimili South; Oghara, Ethiope West; Ekpan in Uwvie council area and Sapele in Sapele Local Government council area of the state.
He listed items recovered from the hoodlums to include one pump action gun, two locally made guns, 5 cartridges and one vehicle recovered from the police operations.