Police kill notorious kidnap kingpin, Pencil in gun battle

A suspected kidnap kingpin, Mufutau Timileyin Sulaimon, also known as ‘Pencil’, was on Sunday night shot dead in a gun-battle with the police at Odogunyan area of Ikorodu, Lagos State. The suspect allegedly died as a result of bullet wounds he sustained during the shootout.

The death of Sulaimon, whom the police described as ‘a most wanted notorious kidnap ringleader’ brings to an end his reign of terror in Ikorodu and its environs. It was learnt that the suspect on March 14, led his gang in the kidnap and murder of two bureau de change operators at Ikorodu after collecting a ransom of N1.6 million.

It was also gathered that the suspect and his gang were responsible for the recent mysterious disappearance of some people in Ikorodu. The Guardian learnt that the victims were usually kidnapped by the gang, after which they will demand ransom from the victim’s families before they are brutally murdered and their bodies dumped in septic tanks.

The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, described the gang members as serial killers, rapists and cultists. It would be recalled that three members of Mufutau’s gang were earlier arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and after their arrest, they led the operatives to their den at Ikorodu, where bodies of two bureau de change operators and two other victims were discovered.

Narrating how Mufutau met his waterloo, Elkana said a sustained monitoring of the fugitive finally yielded positive results on Sunday as a police team eventually traced him to his hideout at Odogunyan, Ikorodu. He said on sighting the team, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Rotimi Ogunmuyiwa, the suspect engaged the team in a gun battle.

“Two SARS operatives, Sergeant Omola Adedeji and Sergeant Oluwadare Gbenga sustained various degrees of injuries, while pencil sustained bullet wound on his two legs. Both the injured policemen and the suspect were taken to the hospital where ‘Pencil’ was confirmed dead on arrival, while the two injured operatives were taken to intensive care unit and are responding to treatment.”