Court remands suspected kidnapper who demanded N50m ransom

By AFUSAT AGUNBIADE-OLADIPO

An Ilorin Magistrates’ Court, on Thursday, ordered the remand of a suspected kidnapper, Abdullahi Yaro, at the Oke-Kura Correctional Centre, Ilorin.

The police arraigned Yaro on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and kidnapping, offences contrary to Section 97 and 273 of Penal Code Law.

The defendant allegedly kidnapped four family members comprising a mother and three children and demanded N50 million ransom.

The Magistrate, Mrs Afusat Alege, thereafter, adjourned the matter till April 25 for further mention.

The police prosecutor, Insp. Mathew Ologbonsaye, told the court that sometime in Dec. 2021, the matter was reported by one Alhaji Taisha that his wife and three children had been kidnapped.

Ologbonsaye said that the complainant also informed the police that the abductors had demanded the sum of N50 million as ransom for their release.

The prosecutor said that upon the receipt of the information, the police with the support of members of the local vigilante swiftly swung into action and four of the kidnap victims were rescued.

According to him, the rescue was made without payment of the ransom and the kidnappers took to their heels when they sighted the police.

He added that on March 10, they received information that Yaro was among the kidnappers, and thereafter the suspect was arrested and brought to the office of the Anti-kidnapping Squad for questioning.

Ologbonsaye said further that investigation conducted by the Anti-Kidnapping squad, revealed that the suspect and others, now at large, were the criminal elements terrorising Omu-Aran and its environs.

He urged the court to remand the suspect to afford the police time to complete their investigation. (NAN)