Police foil kidnap attempt of senior Customs Officer, family members in Lagos

An attempt to kidnap a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, her younger brother and her son has been foiled by police detectives attached to Area-D-Command, Mushin, Lagos on Saturday.

It was gathered that one Yomi Odudare had been calling the younger brother of the Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Barrister Yisa Theophilus for a business deal and had asked him to meet him at a particular location.

Suspecting the caller, the family had reported the matter to the Lagos State Police Command under the leadership of Commissioner of Police, CP Imohimi Edgal.

Acting on the directive of the Commissioner of Police, the Area D Commander had quickly assembled a decoy team which played along with a caller.

The police team ran a quick check on the caller based on available information and came to conclusion that he was up to something sinister.

According to the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti who confirmed the story, ” The team found out that aside from being a notorious criminal in the area, the caller, later discovered to be one Yomi Odudare, was into land selling business (omonile). So the detectives called him to meet with them for a land deal and he agreed.

” On Saturday being June 16th, 2018, the day they agreed to meet with the younger brother of the female Officer of Customs Theophilus, the detectives went along with him. They met the suspect at a project site in Ajah, Lagos, called Fara-park and he was promptly arrested.

” During a brief interrogation at the scene of arrest, the suspect confessed that he has never met the lawyer nor any member of his family. He however said that the idea to kidnap Barrister Theophilus, his sister and her son came from one
Olugbenga Kehinde Ojo, a former Driver to the Deputy Comptroller’s uncle.

” He added that the idea was to kidnap the lawyer and force him to lure out his sister, who is a Deputy Comptroller of Customs.”

CSP Oti revealed that Odudare who wanted to make his story believable had put a call to Ojo.

“Odudare called Ojo and told him to meet up with him, that he had successfully kidnapped the lawyer. He was happy and so he rushed to the venue, straight into the waiting arms of police detectives investigating the case.”

It was also gathered that the two suspects had taken the police detectives to a shanty, surrounded by water, situated in Eleko, along Lekki/Epe expressway, Lagos, which they prepared as a hostage ground for their would be victims.

Oti stated further that the suspects who wanted to avoid the mistakes of the notorious kidnapper, Evans, had agreed that the moment any of their potential victims sights Ojo, a former employee of the Deputy Comptroller’s uncle, that person must be killed because they all know him.

Edgal therefore used the opportunity to advise Lagosians to be wary of people who call them out for lucrative business deals as it might turn out to be a ploy to kidnap or harm them.

He however assured that the Command will remain proactive in the fight against crimes and criminality in the state.