We did not kidnap him, we only demanded N70m ransom – Suspect
If you are a patron of a night club and a lady approaches you around the vicinity of the club asking you to pay her gate fee, you need to be wary. The lady may be a member of a gang that specialises in kidnapping patrons of night club.
This was the experience of 48-year-old Emmanuel Sackey last Friday at a night club on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. What gave him out was that he arrived at the club in his boss’ Hummer Jeep. So, the kidnappers thought that he was a rich guy.
Sackey said, “On Friday night, I went to Adetokunbo Ademola Street to check a new club out. While trying to find a place to park, a lady asked me to assist her gain entry into the club. I told her to go on her own. And when I was about to enter, she started shouting, accusing me of owing her money.
“Immediately, from nowhere, some men came to meet us and claimed to be policemen. They asked me to follow them. Immediately I got to where they parked, they stabbed me in the arm, pointed a gun at my head, took N12,000 from my pocket and forced me into their car.”
Sackey, who added that the men covered his face so he would not know where he was being taken to, insisted that the lady was part of the plot.
“I was taken to a room where they told me that my family must provide N70m and failure to comply, they would kill me the following week. They even took my ATM cards and demanded my pin numbers. Luckily, there was no money in the account,” Sackey, who was held for two days, added.
Sackey told PUNCH METRO that two days after he was kidnapped, he escaped while the kidnappers were sleeping. He added that he jumped over the fence of the compound and raised the alarm, which attracted people from the neighbourhood. “It was some residents in the community that helped to apprehend two of the kidnappers and called the police,” he stated.
Police Public Relations Officer, Samuel Jinadu, said the police at Oke-Odo received information that some hoodlums were hiding at 11 Calvary Street, Off Ekoro Road, Abule Egba.
He said, “The police went to the crime scene while two of the suspects: namely Emmanuel Andrew (28), and Mbet Obong (27) were arrested for the kidnap of Emmanuel Sackey. Police later searched the house and two locally-made pistols with 12 rounds of .38mm live ammunition were recovered.
“The gang leader, Benjamin Odudu, was arrested on Ekoro Road, Abule-Egba. The remaining two suspects are still at large. Also, Hillary Nwankwoala, whom the victim also identified, was apprehended on Monday.”
But a member of the gang, Obong, who claimed to be innocent, said they neither kidnapped nor assaulted Sackey but only helped him.
Asked why they demanded N70m ransom, Obong, who said a prostitute inflicted injuries on Sackey, added that they only demanded N70m ransom after they took him to their house for treatment.”
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