Three people have been detained by the Edo State Police Command on suspicion of being part of a kidnapping group that killed a businessman after kidnapping him and demanding compensation from his family.
The suspects took members of the Intelligence Rapid Response Squad, or CIRRS, of the command to a woodland in Ganaga, Kogi State, where the victim’s body, Babatunde Orogu, 34, was found buried in a shallow grave.
Surprisingly, it was determined that one of the suspects, Abdul Shaibu, a laborer who worked with the deceased, had planned the kidnapping.
Six months ago, Late Orogu was abducted in the Auchi region of the state and transported to a jungle in Kogi State. Then, his kidnappers used his phone to get in touch with his family and demand N1 million in ransom. But he allegedly received N350,000 from his family members.
The Edo State Police Command’s Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, was informed of the kidnapping and he ordered the CIRRS to conduct a covert investigation.
According to reports, on Thursday, the squad located the victim’s sim card and tracked it down to Shaibu, 32, who then sent the detectives to Lokoja in Kogi State, where they detained Musa Araba, 40, and Ugbede Abdul.
Araba and Abdul revealed during questioning that Shaibu gave the order to have his boss killed in order to hide their tracks.
I prayed before I cut his throat.
Explaining how Orogu was killed, Araba said: “After collecting N350,000 from his family, Shaibu said we should kill him since the man had identified him. He said if we allowed him to go, we would be arrested.
“But I insisted I must pray first before carrying out the assignment. I usually pray before doing anything. After prayer, I killed him and dumped the body by the tree.”
Swagenews learned that Shaibu used his boss’ sim card to call his relatives and demand more ransom for Orogu’s release after killing him. He reportedly received N400,000 in Abuja during one of the conversations. According to reports, he made yet another demand and then promised to free the hostage. The Police descended on him as he was in the middle of negotiating for payment.
