Councillor arrested for kidnapping in Ogun

The men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad,
Ogun State Police Command have arrested a
serving councillor of Ward 14, Odogbolu Local
area of Ogun State, Agboola Lateef, and four
others for kidnapping.
The other are: Mukaila Olatunji, Sunkanmi
Dacosta, Tunde Akilo and Ahmed Adebanjo.
Three members of the kidnapping syndicate were
said to be at large.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Valentine
Ntomchukwu, led the team to their den in Ijebu-
Igbo which comprised of three bungalows in a
remote part of the town.
The councillor, who said he regretted being
arrested with the kidnappers, denied being part
of the syndicate. He claimed it was his younger
brother, who is currently at large that drew him
into the mess.
He said, “My brother called that his car had
problem around Itoikin-Sagamu, and he asked
that I should release my car for him. I later
released my car, but I never knew he was into
kidnapping business. I feel bad being paraded
with the kidnappers.”
Sunkanmi Dacosta who said he ran errands
buying food for their victims, said the syndicate
had collected various ransoms from their victims
relations.
He said, “We had collected N900,000. We had
collected N1.3m and N2m from our victims’
relations.”
Mukaila Olatunji who claimed to be a herbalist
owns the houses that served as the dens where
the victims were kept.
“We usually bring the victims at night. And I am
the owner of one the guns recovered from us. I
used it for hunting while I was young,” he said.
Ntomchukwu said the den contained a shrine
where the suspects hypnotise their victims and
fleeced their family members.
“They have had five people as their victims so
far. Currently we are profiling them, to know the
total amount they had collected from their
victims.”
The men of SARS led by Mohammed Tijani led
the team that smashed the syndicate last
Monday through the arrest of Tunde Akilo. This
led to the arrest of four others.

Source: Punch