The usual notion that only herdsmen are behind the spate of kidnappings and banditry across the country may not be true after all as police authorities in Ekiti State have smashed a 14-man students’ gang who specialised in the abduction of their colleagues for ransom.

The gang members who were students of a private tertiary institution in Ekiti seized one of their colleagues in the hostel and collected a whopping N2.2millon from the victim’s parents.

The Public Relations, Sunday Abutu, in a statement made available to journalists in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend saidRapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Ekiti State Police Command carried out the operation and arrested all suspects connected to the crime.

Abutu stated the suspects had made confessional statements on the level of their individual involvement and how they got their share of the loots through eight different bank accounts.

He disclosed that the suspects were apprehended on June 19 2021 at around 10pm.

“A 14-man syndicate, in connection with the abduction of one Akiode Akinyemi, ‘m’, a student of Crown Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti on 19th June 2021 at about 1000hrs.

“It was reported that a gang of suspected kidnappers sneaked into the hostel apartment of the victim, blindfolded him and whisked him away to an unknown destination

“After a while, the suspects, through phone calls, started demanding for ransom to be paid as the only condition for the release of Akiode Akinyemi. Consequently, two million two hundred thousand naira (N2, 200,000:00) was paid as ransom by the victim’s family members into eight(8) different Bank Accounts as provided by the suspects,” the statement reads in part.

It added that “upon the receipt of the information, the RRS Operatives swung into action and on 23rd June, 2021 at about 0400hrs, arrested a total of fourteen (14) suspects in connection with the abduction among whom are ten (10)students of the Institution (Odo Crown Polytechnic) and four others.

“The arrested suspects are Afolabi Olamide Lekan ‘m’, Peter Adeyemi ‘m’, Abiodun Oluwaseun ‘m’, Bamidele Emmanuel ‘m’, Adewumi Sola ‘m’, Adesuyi Adeyeye Olarewaju ‘m’, David Daniel ‘m’, Damilare Yusuf ‘m’, Olasile Hassan ‘m’, Jesse Obinna ‘m’, Mohanye Samuel ‘m’, Olugbade Timileyin ‘m’, Olamide Temilade ‘m’ and Blessing Omotuyi ‘m’.

“All the suspects arrested have confessed to the commission of the crime and stated that the two million two hundred thousand naira (N2, 200,000) collected as ransom before releasing the victim was shared among them,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Tunde Mobayo has appealed to members of the public to always partner and support the police and other security agencies especially in intelligence gathering that will assist in getting the society rid of criminal elements.

(Daily Independent)