By Olajide Meseko
The police have arrested 33 suspected criminals, including members of different kidnapping gangs terrorising motorists and travellers on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The suspected kidnappers, who were arrested by men of the Oyo State Police Command, included those operating at the Onigari section of the expressway, where some wedding guests were recently abducted.
The Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko, who briefed journalists on Thursday, gave the names of some of the suspects as Aliu Umaru, Isiaka Ibrahim and Tambaya Usman.
The CP said, “Owing to the rising cases of kidnapping along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the ugly incident of a case of kidnapping/murder that happened at the Onigari section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on January 7, 2022, the Oyo State Police Command immediately swung into action through the swift deployment of intelligence and tactical assets.
“This led to the arrest of one Bashiru Abubakar, alias Maku-Maku, a member of the kidnapping gang terrorising the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on January 14, 2022 around 3.30pm.
“During interrogation, the arrested suspects mentioned Babuga Umaru, one Bellel, one Ibrahim, one Buyo; Habu Kosoko, one alias Ontop; and one Danliti, now at large, as the ones who carried out the kidnapping operation that caused the death of one Oluwatosin Anwajoye, 45, at the Onigari area of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on January 7, 2022.”
“He confessed that he used his motorcycle to convey Bellel and Ibrahim on January 6, 2022, around 8pm, and they arrived in the bush at the Onigari area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway before they struck on January 7, 2022.
“He also confessed that he was the person who supplied the syndicate with food and hard drugs, while they were in the forest.
“Preliminary investigation of all the suspects arrested so far in the case revealed that they all have knowledge of the kidnapping operation that took place on January 7, 2022 and the forensic analysis of their phone numbers linked them up with the crime and there is a nexus between them and the suspects at large.”
The CP added that members of another gang of kidnappers operating on the same road were also arrested by her men.
She gave the names of the suspects as Tambaya Usman Shehu, 27; Aliyu Umaru, 20; and Isiaka Ibrahim, 28.
Onadeko stated, “This is another kidnap syndicate operating along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The proactive measures adopted by the command to flush out and abate kidnapping in the state and painstaking effort led to the arrest of one Aliyu Umaru and one Isiaka Ibrahim.
“The interrogation of the duo led to the arrest of one Tambaya Usman Shehu at his hideout in the Akimbola area of Bodija, Ibadan on January 27, 2022, around 2.30am, who also belongs to another syndicate of the kidnapping gang terrorising the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
