Crime

Abductors collected N350,000 to release me, says Ondo kidnap victim.

Published

9 months ago

August 1, 2023

Stella Charles Akupue

Abductors collected N350,000 to release me, says Ondo kidnap victim.

The Ondo State Command of the South-West Security Network, also known as Amotekun Corps, has arrested no fewer than 20 men suspected of kidnapping in the state.

This is just as one of the kidnapped victims, Regina Odey, said her abductors released her after paying N350,000.

Abductors collected N350,000 to release me, says Ondo kidnap victim.

Apart from the suspected kidnappers, the corps also arrested nine other persons for various offences.

Parading the suspects at the command’s headquarters, in Akure, the state capital, on Monday, the Corps Commander, Adetunji Adeleye, explained that the suspected kidnappers were arrested in some of the forests in the state.

Adeleye said, “The resurgence of kidnapping within the state made us go deep into forests to fish out these kidnappers. We have 29 criminals, and about 20 of them are suspected kidnappers.

“We had to cross the river before we could arrest them, and we were equally attacked by most of them.

“We also found out that these criminals live in our forests along Ala-Dada, Jugbere, up to Ijagba (in Owo Local Government), and we were able to comb the forests.”

One kidnapped victim, Odey, said she spent seven days in the bandits’ den and was released after paying N350,000.

The 23-year-old victim added that the bandits kidnapped her on the farm and beat her with cassava stems.

She said, “On that day, we were at the farm and saw these three kidnappers approaching where we were. I told my sisters that these people were coming to our side and that I would run, but they (my sisters) said that I should not go anywhere and that they would not do anything to us.

“When they got to us, they asked us to kneel and we knelt. At that moment, we started begging them. Two were with guns, while the third was with a cutlass. They later asked me to stand up and told me I should be following them; they took cassava stems and started beating me as we went.

“I spent seven days with them; they asked for my dad’s number, but I told them I did not know it off-hand because I had already lost my memory. I later told them I did not have parents again, that they had died, and that I just came to the village to help my sisters get money to care for myself when I returned to school.

“But they said it was a lie, that they knew everything about my family, and I later gave them my number because I was not with my phone that day. Immediately I gave them my number, and they started calling the line. One of my sisters from Akure to our village took the call and informed her that they kidnapped me.”

Abductors collected N350,000 to release me, says Ondo kidnap victim.