Men of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested a male and a female suspect for allegedly kidnapping a pastor.
The two suspected kidnappers, Kadiri Jamiu and Ibikunle Opeyemi, were alleged to be connected with the kidnapping of one Pastor Mapai Samuel of ZOE Family International Church, Odo Eran Area, Abeokuta.
The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed in a release, AZ:5310/OGS/PRO/VOL.7/13314/07/2022, today.
According to the release, the two suspects were arrested following a distress call received by policemen at the Aregbe Divisional Headquarters.
“Two men, dressed in military camouflage and accompanied by a woman, invaded the church while the pastor was preaching at about 8pm and forcefully dragged him out and took him away to an unknown destination.
“Not long after they had taken the pastor away, the invaders called to demand a certain amount of money as ransom.
“Upon the distress call, the DPO Aregbe Division, CSP Ikechukwu Gabriel, and his detectives quickly embarked on a technical and intelligence-based investigation and discovered that the suspects were hiding somewhere around the Adigbe area of Abeokuta.
“The DPO and his men, in conjunction with men of Adigbe Division, stormed the hideout where the pastor was rescued and two of the suspects were arrested, while the two men in military camouflage escaped,” Oyeyemi stated in the release.
He further said that, on interrogation, the woman among them claimed to have been in a business relationship with the pastor and that he cheated her in the course of the business, which made her contact the three men to kidnap the pastor to teach him a lesson.
The police image-maker disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the anti-kidnapping unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation.
The police commissioner, who praised his men for their quick response to the distress call, also directed that other members of the gang must be hunted for and brought to book, Oyeyemi added.
