By Peter Dada
The Ondo State Command of the South-West Security Network also known as Amotekun Corps has arrested no fewer than 20 men suspected to be involved in kidnapping in the state.
This is just as one of the kidnappped victims, Regina Odey, said her abductors released her after the payment of N350,000.
Apart from the suspected kidnappers, the corps also arrested nine other persons for various offences.
Parading the suspects at the command’s headquarters, in Akure, the state capital on Monday, the Corps Commander, Adetunji Adeleye, explained that the suspected kidnappers were arrested in some of the forests in the state.
Adeleye said, “The resurgence of kidnapping within the state made us go deep into forests to fish out these kidnappers. We have a total of 29 criminals and about 20 of them are suspected kidnappers.
“We have to cross the river before we were able to arrest them, and we were equally attacked by the majority of them.
“We also found out that these criminals live in our forests along Ala-Dada, Jugbere, up to Ijagba (in Owo Local Government) and we were able to comb the forests.”
One of the kidnapped victims, Odey, said she spent seven days in the den of the bandits and she was released after the payment of N350,000.
The 23-year-old victim added that the bandits kidnapped her on the farm and beat her with cassava stems.
She said, “On that day, we were at the farm and we saw these three kidnappers coming towards where we were. I told my sisters that these people were coming to our side and that I was going to run, but they (my sisters) said that I should not go anywhere and that they were not going to do anything to us.
“When they got to us, they asked us to kneel and we knelt. At that moment we started begging them. Two of them were with guns while the third person was with a cutlass. They later asked me to stand up and told me that I should be following them, they took cassava stems and started beating me as we were going.
“I spent seven days with them, they asked for my dad’s number but I told them that I did not know it off-hand because I have already lost my memory. I later told them I did not have parents again, that they have died, and that I just came to the village to help my sisters so that I will get money to take care of myself when I get back to school.
“But they said it was a lie, that they knew everything about my family and I later gave them my number because I was not with my phone on that day. Immediately I gave them my number, they started calling the line. One of my sisters that came from Akure to our village took the call and they informed her that they have kidnapped me.”
Source: The Punch
