Kidnapped Ondo female farmer dies in forest as Amotekun rescues 5

From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

A female farmer abducted by gunmen at Parubber community in Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State has died in the custody of her captors.

The victim reportedly died in a forest where she was held by the kidnappers, despite a 72-hour rescue operation mounted by security operatives.

The incident came as the Ondo State Security Network Agency, popularly known as Amotekun Corps, announced the rescue of five other kidnapping victims in separate operations across the state.

The deceased was one of two farmers abducted while working on their farms along the Ondo-Ife Road. The gunmen reportedly whisked the victims into a nearby forest and subsequently demanded N100 million ransom from their families.

The Commander of the Ondo Amotekun Corps, Adetunji Adeleye, disclosed the development on Monday while parading suspects and giving an account of recent operations by the security outfit in Akure.

Adeleye said nine members of the corps’ special squad were immediately deployed after a distress call was received, while sister security agencies, particularly the Department of State Services, DSS, were contacted to commence a joint tracking operation.

He said the operation was prolonged after the kidnappers deliberately sent security operatives false geographical location signals in an attempt to frustrate the rescue effort.

According to him, the victims were eventually traced to a reserve forest several kilometres away from the location where they were initially abducted.

“We successfully secured the release of the two of them that were kidnapped in Okeigbo. Not without a lot of trouble because the kidnappers equally deceived us on the geo-location with the beach.

“The operation lasted for about 72 hours, during which the kidnappers allegedly frustrated the rescue effort by sending security operatives false geo-location signals before the victims were eventually traced to a reserve forest several kilometres away from the scene of the abduction,” Adeleye said.

He, however, said the operation ended tragically after the female victim was found unconscious and efforts to revive her failed.

The male victim, he added, was rescued alive.

Adeleye further disclosed that two boys abducted around the Owo axis were rescued without the payment of ransom.

He said one of the suspects allegedly linked to their abduction had been traced to Oyo State, adding that efforts were ongoing to arrest him.

According to him, two other men abducted around the Ala-Dada axis were also rescued after they managed to send a distress call to security operatives.

He said Amotekun Rangers responded within minutes of receiving the alert and successfully rescued the victims from the forest.

The commander also disclosed the arrest of suspected cattle rustlers operating around Ore, Ode-Aye, Ofosu and Omotosho in Odigbo Local Government Area of the state.

He said investigations revealed that the suspects had established networks for selling stolen cattle across Ondo State at unusually low prices.

“We have those that bought these cows from him. He has ready markets across the state where he sends the cows to for sale at very ridiculous prices,” Adeleye said.

The Amotekun commander said the corps had intensified intelligence gathering and adopted non-kinetic approaches alongside intelligence-driven bush combing to tackle the changing tactics of kidnappers and other criminals.

He stressed that the recent operations demonstrated that criminal elements could not establish safe havens anywhere in Ondo State.