Over the course of the weekend. The efforts of the Nigerian Police again paid off when detectives from the Ondo State Police Command where able to secure the release of a 90-year-old “Alhaji Musa Adisa Labaika” who happens to be the former president of the Ondo State branch of Association of Master Bakers, from his abductors.
It was gathered that Labaika was freed from the hoodlums’ hideout in Ado-Ekiti, and the police commands confirmed the arrest of three of the abductors.
It was gathered that the police got on the trail of the hoodlums through the mobile telephone number they used to demand the N30 million as ransom from the family, 2 days after the abduction.
The owner of the phone, who was himself a victim, had been robbed earlier by the gang that kidnapped the old man. He was thus left off the hook by the police because the robbery had been reported and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) were already working to unmask the robbers.
We gathered from the police command that that Information and Communication Technology experts in the police were able to trace the call from the kidnappers to a house in Ado-Ekiti and after ascertaining their targets, a police squad moved in on Saturday to rescue Alhaji Labaika and arrest some of the suspects.
Those arrested were said to have confessed to several robberies, including the one in which their operational car was snatched from a couple in Akure last February.
They are currently being kept in the custody of the SARS pending the conclusion of investigations that would herald their arraignment in court.
Just the16-year-old pupil of American International School “Olufolabi Adenij”, who was abducted in Lagos on his way to school two weeks ago, was rescued by the police in a forest in Ilaro, Ogun State, in this case policemen attached to Area A of the Lagos State Police Command have rescued Adeniji who was kidnapped on April 16.
Adeniji had been reported missing by his parents’ aides, who raised the alarm that he was yet to report to school hours after he left home with the driver.
Their fears were heightened when during the initial search, they found the sport utility vehicle (SUV) that took him to school parked at the .
But investigation has shown that the driver allegedly was behind the kidnapping. The driver, identified as Adebayo John, alongside his brother and two others, executed the abduction and demanded N60 million as ransom.
Acting on a tip-off, the police were said to have gone to Ilaro and spent four days combing the area for traces of the kidnappers. Their search paid off last Thursday as they finally arrested one of the suspects who confessed as to the whereabouts of the other gang members.
Using details of the confession, the police were said to have used the ransom as a bait to lure out the remaining members of the gang from their hideout in the forest.
Two members of the kidnap syndicate who had come to the bush path on Friday, purportedly to pick up the ransom and release the victim, were arrested.
Police sources said the kidnappers had engaged policemen in a duel during the rescue operation, stabbing a corporal twice on the head. One of the kidnappers was however shot dead in the fracas as he tried to evade arrest.