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From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Operatives of the Edo State Police Command, yesterday, arrested two suspected kidnappers, Joel Emazor, 31, and Philip Roberts, 30, over alleged kidnapping of one Albert Igbinomwanhia, 31, in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
It was gathered that the suspects, in collaboration with one Ossai and Eguavon, who are now at large, kidnapped the victim and held him in their hideout for five days and later released him after collecting N5.1 million ransom from his parents.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, while parading the suspects, said they were arrested on March 30 by the command’s Intelligence Rapid Response Squad while acting on credible intelligence.
He said: “On March 6, the suspect and two others, one Ossai and Eguavon, whose surname are not known, kidnapped one Albert Igbinomwanhia from Igbinedion Avenue, G.R.A., Benin City, to the Agbor Road Bye-Pass axis, near Okhuahe River, in a Lexus RX 330 with registration number RBC 18 DC, and held him hostage inside a borrow pit for five days.
“Subsequently, the kidnappers demanded N14 million ransom from his family members, and the victim was released to his family after collecting N5.1 million.”
He said after collecting the money, the suspects continued to call the victim and his parents, insisting that the N14 million must be completed or they would still kidnap the victim, which made the parents to petition the commissioner of police.
“The suspects were arrested from their hideout and they have made statements and confessed to the crime. Efforts are ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects who are at large.”
Chidi assured that the command is battle ready to track down all criminal elements in the state, in collaboration with other sister agencies.
In an interview with journalists, Joel said he had a business deal with Albert, but when he asked him about his money, Albert told him the people involved in the business had not given him his money.
“So, I took him to the police station and when the issue was not going well, we left there and took Albert along to the borrow pit, and when it was night, we left for our hotel room and held him for five days and collected N5.1 million ransom from his parents before we were arrested. I have learnt my lesson because I didn’t really know that holding him for days was an offence; it was when we got to the station that they read the law to me and I knew it was an offence,” he said.
