The Akwa Ibom State Police Command said it has apprehended one Eddy Etim Onuka, a youth leader of the Rice Miller Association, Oron, as well as four of his gang members for alleged kidnapping and murder in the state.
The command Public Relations Officer, SP Odiko Macdon, while parading the suspects over the weekend at the command headquarters, Ikot Akpanabia, Uyo, said the arrest was effected by the operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Tactical Team in the state.
He added that the suspects confessed to be the masterminds behind the two kidnap incidents, one of which involved one Emmanuel whom they shot dead while he was trying to resist them and another Aniekan whom they succeeded and collected over N20 million from him.
The statement partly read, “This is a clear case of kidnapping and it is a very unfortunate one. They went to abduct one Mr Emmanuel who sells engine parts and when they got there, the man resisted the kidnap and they shot him, they and some other members of the gang at large but Eddy Onuka here was their leader. By the grace of God, the Special Tactical Team of IGP moved in and effected the arrest. This was the first incident.
“The second incident, the same Eddy led members of the same kidnapping syndicate and they succeeded this time around in abducting one Aniekan and collected over N20 million from him as ransom.
“He (Eddy) got N1.2 million which he used in buying another car. His vehicle was used in committing the crime. They confessed to the fact that they used AK 47 in that particular operation.”
The police spokesman said all the suspects played different roles in the kidnapping of their victims.
“One of them his account was used in collecting the ransom to the tune of N1.2m while the other person formed surveillance, giving them information about the deceased; when he goes out and when he comes in and this goes to underscore the need why Akwa Ibomites at every point in time need to be conscious of security because some of these people are people who are close to them.
” Another suspect here collected the phone number of the wife of the deceased and called her demanding for a ransom again and threatening her and after asked her of a whopping N3.2m else he was going to deal with her. That made the woman to be apprehensive and ran to the police and the police went and did what they did,” he added.
Macdon, who reiterated the commitment of the command towards ensuring the safety of lives and property of the residents, called on the good people of the state to always volunteer information that could help in combating crime and criminality in the state.
“I want to assure the good people of Akwa Ibom State that the command has no place for kidnapping and abduction and robbery, those perpetrating these acts should desist because they will always meet their Waterloo,” Macdon warned.
