Notorious Abuja kidnapper abducted, pays N1.5m to regain freedom

• Gunmen abduct popular petrol dealer in Ekiti
• Seven kidnapped kids found in Anambra, Enugu

A kidnapper, Mohammed Amodu, notorious for his nefarious activities in Abuja environs, was abducted by another kidnapper, Buba Babu, and had to pay N1,555,000 for his freedom. Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, disclosed this while parading both kidnappers alongside other criminals in Abuja yesterday.

He said Babu, notorious for kidnapping citizens on Abuja highways, was third in command of a kidnap syndicate headed by one Buji, who was neutralized by the police alongside the second in command.

Mba said Babu took leadership of the gang and was notorious for always killing kidnap victims.
Babu took Amodu into custody and when the abducted kidnapper hesitated to pay, he was shot in the arm. Mba said Amodu had boasted he had charms and could not be shot. Babu shot him to show how serious he was.

Amodu, Mba said, was known as ‘Confirm’ because he was a reputed marksman in the underworld. “Yet he was kidnapped and released after he paid N1.55 million.”

Amodu said there was a time his gang kidnapped 20 victims at a time and he had saved up to N15 million from his nefarious activities. He added that he witnessed an operation where Buba kidnapped 55 persons from a luxurious bus at a time.

MEANWHILE, unknown gunmen have kidnapped a popular petroleum products dealer, Alhaji Suleiman Akanji Akinbami, at his filling station located along Federal Polytechnic Road, Ado-Ekiti.

Akinbami was whisked away by the gunmen who stormed the petrol station on Sunday evening and ordered him inside his SUV. Eyewitnesses said he was abducted around 9:00p.m. by gunmen numbering five when he came to pick his wife.

The Ekiti police command, which confirmed the incident in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Sunday Abutu, said the command has deployed a special team of policemen to be assisted by the Amotekun corps, local hunters and vigilantes to comb the bush for possible apprehension of the suspects and release of the victim.

IN a related development, the Kano State Government has said seven additional children have been rescued from various dens of kidnappers in Anambra and Enugu states. The seven children who were allegedly stolen from Kano were said to have been trafficked to the eastern part of the country before their eventual discovery.

Commissioner for Information in Kano, Malam Muhammad Garba, who confirmed the development to newsmen yesterday revealed that the rescue was carried out by the police special squad.

Garba disclosed that parents of some of the rescued children have already identified their kids and will soon be reunited after due protocol concluded.

The Inspector General of Police special team had in October 2019 recovered nine children at Onitsha, Anambra State and repatriated them to Kano after they were declared missing in Dakata area of Kano metropolis.

The nine rescued children who were found about four years after their suspected kidnap could hardly communicate in their mother language and had been renamed with Igbo identity.