Kidnappers of eight residents preparing for burial, demand N50m

Kidnappers struck again in the Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State on Tuesday night kidnapping no fewer than eight residents at Itapaji Ekiti.

The abductors were said to have contacted the family of the victims on Wednesday morning, according to sources, and demanded N50 million ransom.

A source said on Wednesday that the gunmen, at about 9.30pm, invaded a house where the house owner was preparing for the burial of his mother, shot sporadically into the air and made away with eight persons.

“The men numbering seven came around 9.30pm with guns and surrounded the building. They fired gunshots sporadically,” a resident told journalists.

According to him, the absence of police in Itapaji, Ayebode, Irele and Oke Ako, emboldened the gunmen to operate without resistance, adding that the nearest police station is in Ikole Ekiti, which is over 40 minutes’ drive to the troubled spots.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, Sunday Abutu, confirmed the incident, saying, “The command is working on that (the kidnap incident). Already, special police operatives as well as the Joint Task Force have been deployed in that axis to ensure they rescue the victims and for possible arrest of the culprits.”

Meanwhile, four days after the kidnap of two kids in Ondo State, the abductors have released the victims after the family reportedly paid N5million ransom.

The kids were abducted by gunmen inside their mother’s car at Leo Area of Akure, the state capital, on Friday at about 8.30pm.

A family, source who confirmed the release of the two girls, to journalists, said the victims were released to their parents after ransom had been paid.

The source disclosed that the two girls, identified as Fikayo (2) and Bolu (4), were led to their parents by security operatives from the state police command.

He explained that the two girls were left around Okuta Elerinla Area in Akure where a good Samaritan saw them and took them to the police station.

“Initially, the kidnappers asked for N40million as ransom but later reduced it to N5million,” he said.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed that the girls regained their freedom on Tuesday night.

“A good Samaritan who saw them (victims) in the night took them to the police station and the little girls had been handed over to their parents,” she said.

She however, denied knowledge of payment of ransom for the release of the girls.

(The PUNCH)