The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko said his Command has rescued a Briton kidnapped last Tuesday, while one of the suspected kidnappers was arrested with arms.
The suspect, Benson Chukwuemeka is currently detained at the State Intelligence Bureau, SIB, of the Command over his alleged role in the abduction of the British national, Dickson Lee, on July 16, 2013 at Mafoluku area along the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road, Lagos.
The 27-year-old suspect told Community Mirror that he was arrested while trying to collect a $1 million ransom at Satellite Town Estate on Badagry/Seme Road, from officials of the British High Commission. He, however, received a shocker when the supposed officials turned out to be a combined team of detectives from the SIB and Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
While being paraded at the command headquarters, Ikeja by Mr. Umar Manko, Benson disclosed that he was grabbed by his right arm as he attempted to collect the ransom from one of the occupants in the car, at a spot he had been told to wait.
He said: "Ugoh and I drove on a motorcycle to collect the money on Sunday. Ugoh drove the bike, while I sat behind him. Ugoh was introduced to me by a friend, Nonye, who was at the camp, but asked me to accompany him to collect the ransom. "Ugoh sat on the motorcycle, as he pointed towards a car parked by the roadside, even as I thought, he knew the occupants.
Before we got to the spot he was always communicating with the "officials". It was one of the occupants who beckoned at me to come closer as he wound down the door glass.
"As I tried to collect the money in a bag, he held onto my hand. That was how I was arrested. It was only Ugoh who escaped with gunshots fired at him by the detectives", said the Abia stateborn suspect.
According to him, he took the detectives to their camp in a swampy area of Okota in Isolo, Lagos. Narrating his involvement, he said "It was Nonye, who invited me to Lagos when my business collapsed. I deal in second-hand clothing and based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State but operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service confiscated my goods.
"When I narrated my plight to Nonye, he asked me to come to Lagos last Friday. He promised to lend me N200, 000. On July 19, 2013, I went to the camp at Okota and there met the Briton who he kept in a private room.
That was all I knew of the victim", Benson said. However, Manko said Lee Dickson, who was rescued, did not sustain any injuries, except a gunshot fired at one of his legs when the gang members attacked him and his friend, one Kodjo who had gone to pick him at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, while arriving from the United Kingdom aboard a KLM Airline.
He said: "The victim was said to have boarded a KLM Airline from Amsterdam to Lagos and landed at Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja. While being driven in a black jeep, he was attacked and kidnapped by unknown gunmen on July 16 along Airport road, Mafoluku and taken to an unknown destination.
The driver sustained gun injury during the process. On receiving the news, a team of operatives were detailed to investigate the case. The victim's relatives were advised to negotiate ransom with the kidnappers.
"The GSM number used by the suspects was sent to the service provider. After long negotiations, the kidnappers accepted to collect a ransom of N7.5 million. On July 21, at 12.30pm, a team of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad cordoned and arrested the suspect, who had come to collect the ransom along the Lagos- Badagry Expressway,'' Manko said.
The Commissioner said the suspect, on interrogation, confessed to the crime, stressing that he led the operatives to their hideout at Ago-Okota, Lagos, where the victim was rescued unhurt, while other gang members escaped with bullet wounds.
He said efforts are on to arrest those now at large, even as he allayed fears of foreigners against travelling to Nigeria, and Lagos in particular to engage in genuine business, assuring that the police would protect them. He, however, warned against payment of ransom by victim's families, adding that such encouraged kidnappings.
National Mirror
Kidnapping is definately not something to write home about in this country and it is very bad. That has to change!