He, however, said the arrests of the suspects were made possible by the crime tackling approach “premised upon improved communal partnerships and technology-aided inquiries.”
The Nigeria Police Force, Oyo State command, has apprehended a suspected kidnapper who wrote a letter to the management of a private university in Oyo town and informed them of his plan to abduct three students from the institution.
While parading the suspected kidnapper and other suspects on Monday, the state's Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams, noted that the suspects were apprehended at different times by men from the command, PUNCH reports.
According to the CP, the suspected kidnapper demanded N10 million from the university to prevent him from striking. He was also said to have written to a local bank to notify the management of his intention to attack the establishment.
He, however, said the arrests of the suspects were made possible by the crime tackling approach “premised upon improved communal partnerships and technology-aided inquiries.”
He said, “The command’s monitoring unit has intercepted a kidnap mastermind whose mode of operation is to run detailed background checks on unsuspected victims and then inform them through writing of his intentions to abduct them unless a stipulated amount of money could be sourced and paid to him.
“Preliminary investigations revealed on Thursday, August 11, 2022 at about 8am, members of a notorious kidnapping syndicate sent a ‘’hand-written” note to the management of a private university in Oyo town wherein they threatened to abduct three of its students should the management fail to pay up N10,000,000 within a stipulated period.
“The threat, as expected, disrupted academic activities within the university, stirring up panic and uncertainty among the university community.
"Basking under the euphoria of what they presumed was a successful scheme, and blinded with greed, they decided to extend a similar (hand-written) notification to a branch office of a new generation bank within Owode area, Oyo, with the intentions of invading it later in the week.
“Consequent upon the above, discreet forensic based investigations were carried out and this led to the arrest of one Azeez Mufutau ‘M’ whose phone numbers were inscribed on the ‘’hand-written notes’’ sent to the both the school management and bank.
“Upon questioning, the suspect confirmed that the phone number on the note was his but denied being the author of the document.
“The investigation further led to the arrest of one Olarinde Adekunle ‘M’ age 37 years, who confessed to being the author of the hand-written notes under scrutiny and added that Azeez Mufutau ‘m’ was used as a decoy for the purpose of concealing his direct involvement.”
The command also displayed a number of alleged armed robbers who had been detained after assaulting a Point of Sale operator and robbing him of his earnings.
He claimed that on July 23, about 8:30 p.m., in Oyo Town, thugs robbed the business of one Abass Taiwo and took his money.