Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Three suspected kidnappers who are currently cooling their heels in the net of the Benue State police command were on Wednesday paraded alongside other crime suspects.
According to the Commissioner of Police in charge of the state, Omololu Bishi, the suspected kidnappers, Moses Iorha, Terngu Ackaa and Msugh Ako, alias MC Dave, were arrested following intelligence reports from members of the public.
Iorha, it was gathered, alongside members of his gang broke into the victim’s home and robbed him of his Toyota Corolla car valued at N2.8 million, and some unspecified amount of money.
The suspect and his gang also shot their victim in the foot and abducted his eight-year-old daughter whom, they allegedly released after collecting an unspecified amount of money as ransom.
Bishi stated further that Iorha who confessed to the crime had also told the police during interrogation that his gang had also robbed another victim in Ankpa Quarters, Makurdi, of his pump action gun and other valuables.
The CP also disclosed that Terngu, a dismissed sergeant in the Nigerian Army had organized five kidnappings along the Gboko axis and collect huge sums as ransom before releasing their victims.
Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers, one of the victims, a woman who spoke from her hospital bed but pleaded anonymity said: “One evening while in my shop, three gunmen entered and said I was under arrest and that the DPO wanted to see me.
“They said they were policemen and if I refused to follow them, they would shoot me. As soon as I entered their car, they blindfolded me and after a while they told me they were not police but kidnappers. They released me the next morning after my husband paid ransom but I don’t know how much he paid.”
Also, two men who were victims of the kidnappers spoke of how their homes were invaded by the gang and how family members were abducted and released after a ransom was paid.
But speaking with our correspondent, the dismissed Army sergeant, Terngu, said he had nothing to say insisting that God would prevail even as Iorha confessed to the crime and asked that government should pardon him.
In all, the police command paraded ten suspects including kidnappers, armed robbery suspects and cultists and recovered eight arms with 17 live cartridges with one expended cartridge. Four motorcycles, as well as one vehicle, were also recovered from them.