Police arraign driver for faking own kidnap, collecting N350,000 ransom

• Court remands cattle rearer for allegedly abducting housewife
• 137 suspects nabbed, 13 transformers recovered in Akwa Ibom

The police yesterday arraigned a 44-year-old driver, Olumamuywa Adeoya, in a Karmo Grade I Area Court, Abuja, for allegedly faking his own kidnap and deceiving his friend into paying N350,000 as ransom.

Adeoya, who resides in Karamajiji Area, Abuja, is charged with two counts of criminal breach of trust and cheating. The prosecution counsel, Ijeoma Ukagha, told the court that the complainant, Adebesin Daniel of Plot 20b Kucgiko Estate Bwari, Abuja, reported the matter at the Life Camp Police Station, Abuja, on August 27.

Ukagha alleged that on August 23 at about 5:30p.m., the defendant called the complainant, pleading for his assistance. The prosecutor alleged that the defendant told the complainant that he was abducted alongside one of his sons on the Kaduna-Abuja Express road. She said the defendant pleaded with the complainant to help him pay the ransom of N350,000 with a promise to pay back upon his release.

Ukagha added that during police investigation, the defendant confessed to the crime, while efforts made to recover the money, failed. The offence, she said, contravened the provisions of sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.

Also, an Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan, Oyo State yesterday ordered that a cattle rearer, Ali Jayo, who allegedly kidnapped a housewife be remanded in a correctional facility.

Magistrate M.O. Enilolobo, who did not take the plea of the defendant, remanded him in Agodi Correctional Centre, pending legal advice from the Oyo State Ministry of Justice. She then adjourned the case until November 4 for mention.

Jayo, aged 25, is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and kidnapping. Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Olalekan Adegbite, told the court that the defendant committed the offences with two others still at large on June 23, at 10.37 p.m. at Hossanna Canteen and Bar, Igboora, Oyo.

Adegbite alleged that the defendant unlawfully kidnapped Elizabeth Funmilayo for the purpose of collecting N1 million as ransom.

Meanwhile, 137 suspects including Nwangwu Moses, aged 44, caught in police uniform as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) while embarking on illegal escort, have been arrested for offences such as murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, defilement, child stealing, and cultism, while 13 transformers belonging to the Akwa Ibom State government have also been recovered by state police command.

Also rescued by the command was a kidnap victim, a post-graduate student of Michael Okpara University, Umudike, and a seven-year-old child who was stolen by one Helen Monday of Esit Eket L.G.A. The Commissioner for Police in Akwa Ibom, CP Zaki Ahmed, made this known in a media briefing in Uyo.