Epe: 5 Kidnappers demand N350m ransom
Abductors who are said to be responsible for the kidnap of two Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) members and five farm workers at Eliasa farm in the Igbodu area of Epe on Tuesday have demanded N350 million ransom before releasing the victims.
The Daily Times learnt that the kidnappers contacted the manager of the farm through the phone of one of the victims on Wednesday and asked for the sum of N50 million each for the seven victims.
In another development, one of the suspected kidnappers who participated in the abduction of the secretary of Isheri North Estate, Mr. Dayo Adekoya, has been arrested in Ogijo, Ogun State.
The 38- year- old Joseph Omoni was who arrested by the operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) as a suspect confessed to have participated in the kidnapping of the Turkish School’s Children and that of Aisha Ali Balogun along the Ikorodu- Mile 12 road where one person was killed and nine people, including children were kidnapped.
Two houses built with the proceeds from the illicit business with one of his gang members identified simply as Aka Chairman were sealed in Centaury village in Ogijo, Ogun State by the police authority. Efforts are, however, in top gear to arrest other fleeing members of the gang who are all natives of Ajgba Community in Ondo State.
A source in Igbodu who spoke with The Daily Times on phone on the kidnapped OPC members and farmers said, mobile Policemen and anti-kidnapping Squad have been deployed to the community to rescue the kidnapped victims.
He said: “we cannot take laws into our hands. The kidnappers have taken us for granted but to avoid chaos, I and the officer in charge of the anti-kidnapping visited the Oba of Ikosi Ejirin who promised to reach out to the Governor of the state for prompt action in the area.”
‘’I want the Lagos State government to pay more attention to that part of the state, because after the dislodgement of the kidnappers from Arepo and Ikorodu, they have seen Epe axis as their next area where they launch attacked.”
According to the Assistant Inspector General of Police zone 2, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, ‘we are going to rescue the victims alive.
He said: ‘’ we are doing everything to police that area, because the major problem in that part of the state is the porous nature of the area that gives room to the kidnappers to thrive.”
Aderanti added: “we we’ll police that area twenty four hours every day and my advice to business owners, school operators in that area is to be security conscious and do their background check of anybody they want to employ.
“We are also going to do our own job to see to release of the victims without paying a dime to the abductors.” It will be recalled that the gunmen numbering about 15, dressed in military camouflage, stormed the farm situated along Ishiwo road around 7am and abducted the OPC members who were working as security guards in the farm and five workers.
