A traditional ruler, His Royal Highness, Eze Andrew Okuegbunwa, has been nabbed by the police for alleged involvement in kidnapping in Imo State.
He was arrested alongside other suspected members of the kidnap gang at Obor Autonomous Community in Oguta Local Government Area of the state.
Among other suspects were Caleb Agu a.k.a. Pastor; Andrew Okuegbunwa, a traditional leader; Bernard Uzoma, their native doctor, and Ebenezer Obioha, who was arrested with bullet wounds.
The suspects were reported to have kidnapped five victims on July 19 but abandoned three of them and the Lexus RX300 they were using to convey them when they suspected police trailing them.
The gang, which used to operate once in a month, increased their tempo to twice when ‘Pastor’ told them to do so, so that he would be able to complete his oncoming projects.
Speaking during the parade of the suspects on Thursday, the state Commissioner of Police, Isaac Akinmoyede said that the traditional ruler usually gave his Lexus car, RX300 to the kidnap gang for their operations.
“Whenever they came back from their operations, they would give him booty from their operations.
“But this time around, they got disappointed as we were able to get them.
“Before now, we had beamed a searchlight for some time, and we were trying to trail him (Eze) to get him with evidence.
“There is also Ebenezer, who was a member of the gang, and ‘Pastor’, who was the operational leader of the gang,” the CP disclosed.
The police commissioner stated further that four AK47 rifles, one LAR rifle, a sub-machine gun, 120 rounds of live ammunition, cartridges, AK47 magazines and N4.2 million were recovered from the suspects.
Akinmoyede pointed out that the kidnap gang ambushed operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) who were coming from an assignment sometimes in May 2020, and collected the LAR rifle and sub-machine gun from them.
He added that they shot one of the operatives and injured another one, expressing happiness that the weapons had been recovered from the suspects.
“Out of the N4.2 million ransom that the kidnappers had, they gave N3 million to the Eze as payment for him to purchase another vehicle after the vehicle given by him to the gang was recovered by the police.
“For them to be in operation, they had to compensate the Eze with N3 million, to buy another vehicle, so that they could continue to be in business.
“N4.2 million was recovered out of N7.5 million the gang took from victims,” he said.
The police commissioner said that the other suspects were involved in robbery, defilement and incest, among other cases.
