Enugu demolishes mansion used as kidnappers’ den

The Enugu State Government on Saturday demolished another property linked to kidnapping activities in the state.

It warned landlords that it would not entertain any excuses in enforcing relevant laws of the state mandating the government to bring down any property linked to such acts.

Section 315 (Second Amendment) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap 30, Laws of Enugu State provides, “If the building or structure owned by the offender or any other person, who knows or ought to reasonably know that the building or structure is so being used for that purpose, the building or structure shall be demolished or forfeited to the State Government.”

Speaking to newsmen at the site, the Executive Chairman, Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, Uche Anya, explained that the mansion located at Amaebo Owelli Autonomous Community in Awgu LGA of the state was used to hold kidnapping victims hostage.

According to him, the video of a male kidnapping victim, who had several AK-47 rifles pointed at his head in May 2024, was recorded in the same building, but security agencies were able to track the building, rescue the victim, and apprehend criminals after recovering ammunition.

“What you see here today is the continuation of the war of the Enugu State Government against all manner of criminality. Today, we are here to take down a kidnappers’ den. The property you see us taking down right now is a place where horrendous criminal activities happened,” Anya said.

“For instance, on 25th of May 2024, some deadly kidnappers abducted a man in Enugu, brought him here, stripped him bare, even naked to his red boxers, bound him, pointed guns at him, and forced him to start talking to his family to request for money. They posted that video to his relatives.

“They held him down, but to the glory of God and the commitment of Governor Mbah, who is giving his all to security, the government and security agencies, through our state-of-the-art security system, were able to see what was happening in this rural community.

“Security agencies moved to the place. Every other person was arrested, but the kingpin escaped to Ebonyi. We tracked him to Ebonyi, and he escaped to Lagos where the Enugu State Government and the security agencies caught up with him.

“Interestingly, the kingpin of the gang that did this nonsense was a member of the same gang we went after somewhere at Ogbeke Nike.

“To those who say why not convert these properties to good use, we want these to serve as a deterrent in accordance with the law. The Enugu State Government does not want anything that will remind us of the deadly criminality.

“We just want to put it out of our minds. We do not need to acquire a criminal’s property to use it to serve the public. We bring it down and we do our own thing. We do not want to profit from their criminality.”