Why We’re Into Kidnapping Business – 4 Kidnappers Of Syrian National Confess

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

Four suspects allegedly involved in the kidnap of a Syrian national, Lungyn Camal, at Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, Lagos, have confessed why they went into kidnapping business saying that their guns were taken away from them during the Amnesty Programme in Niger Delta.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspects, Ayeni John, 45, Tijani Gafari, 38, Ojonla Oyetakin, 30, and Paul Orimisan, 38, alleged to have been responsible for many high profile kidnapping cases and robberies on the waterways, were arrested by the operatives of Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Lagos State Command.

This was disclosed by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, who paraded the suspects with other criminal suspects arrested across the State.

The Police boss stated that preliminary investigations revealed that Mr. Camal, a contractor was travelling by boat on April 12, 2020, when the suspects intercepted his boat on the waterways.
He said that Camal was whisked to an unknown destination, but later released after the payment of ransom in millions of Naira was made.

However, the suspects were arrested on July 24, 2020, after Police operatives received intelligence about their activities, trailed and eventually arrested them.

During the parade at the Police Headquarters in Ikeja, CP Odumosu revealed that the suspects had earlier kidnapped two men, Salisu Mansur and Christopher Chinda at Landmark Beach with a staff of Eko Atlantic, who plotted the crime with the suspects.

He said: “The suspects are from Ondo State, and were arrested based on credible intelligence gotten by operatives from the Command’s Anti-kidnapping Unit. The gang was responsible for series of kidnapping for ransom and robberies on Lagos waterways”.
“ On March 12, the same gang kidnapped one Lungyn Camal, a Syrian citizen at Eko Atlantic, all on the waterways. They confessed to the crimes, and the suspects will be charged to Court.”

However, the suspects denied involvement in the criminal act, maintaining that one Job, masterminded the act.
Ayeni, a self-acclaimed International businessman, and a boat driver, said he was contacted by Mr. Job to take the gang to the said location where the victims were kidnapped.
“A man, who I later got to know was called Job, hired my boat from Liverpool in Apapa around 12noon to a beach. Around 5pm, the man asked me to take him back, and paid me N50,000. I did not have a hand in the kidnap, my boat was only hired” he said.
Orimisan attributed the misfortune to Job. He said Job had tricked them during the Amnesty Programme and collected their guns without paying them any money.
The suspect said: “Ayeni and I were arrested when we were coming from Badagry. Job is a dangerous man, he deceived us during the Amnesty Programme; took our rifles and promised to give us money but he never did. He is the one that implicated us in this crime, I am not a part of the gang”.

However, the suspects did not disclose what they were doing with the rifles collected from them that got them involved in kidnapping business which has landed in trouble.

Police sources said that if the suspects are charged before Court, tried and found guilty, they will spend several years in custody for the alleged offence.