Ogun councillor, four others arrested for kidnapping

The men of the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad, Ogun State Police
Command have arrested a serving
councillor of Ward 14, Odogbolu
Local area of Ogun State, Agboola
Lateef, and four others for
kidnapping.
The other are: Mukaila Olatunji,
Sunkanmi Dacosta, Tunde Akilo and
Ahmed Adebanjo.
Three members of the kidnapping
syndicate were said to be at large.
The state Commissioner of Police,
Mr. Valentine Ntomchukwu, led the
team to their den in Ijebu-Igbo
which comprised of three
bungalows in a remote part of the
town.
The councillor, who said he
regretted being arrested with the
kidnappers, denied being part of
the syndicate. He claimed it was his
younger brother, who is currently
at large that drew him into the
mess.
He said, “My brother called that his
car had problem around Itoikin-
Sagamu, and he asked that I should
release my car for him. I later
released my car, but I never knew
he was into kidnapping business. I
feel bad being paraded with the
kidnappers.”
Sunkanmi Dacosta who said he ran
errands buying food for their
victims, said the syndicate had
collected various ransoms from
their victims relations.
He said, “We had collected
N900,000. We had collected N1.3m
and N2m from our victims’
relations.”
Mukaila Olatunji who claimed to be
a herbalist owns the houses that
served as the dens where the
victims were kept.
“We usually bring the victims at
night. And I am the owner of one
the guns recovered from us. I used
it for hunting while I was young,”
he said.
Ntomchukwu said the den
contained a shrine where the
suspects hypnotise their victims
and fleeced their family members.
“They have had five people as their
victims so far. Currently we are
profiling them, to know the total
amount they had collected from
their victims.”
The men of SARS led by Mohammed
Tijani led the team that smashed
the syndicate last Monday through
the arrest of Tunde Akilo. This led to
the arrest of four others.