Metro

Why We Demanded Ransom After Victim’s Death — Kidnap Suspect

Published

1 year ago

May 12, 2023

Editor

A kidnap suspect, Akinmola Oyekanmi, arrested by the Ondo state security outfit, codenamed, Amotekun, has narrated why he and his gang still demanded for ransom from the family of their dead victim.

Akinmola, who was paraded alongside other suspected criminals terrorizing the people of the state, said the victim died in their custody while negotiations were on with his family members.

The suspect and three other members of his gang has abducted their victim who was travelling from Mower area in Ogun state to Ondo state.

According to him “it is a pity that the gun with one of my gang member accidentally discharged and killed the victim.

“We saw the victim coming and four of us decided to kidnap him.

“While we were dragging and forcing him to cooperate with us, the gun with one of us mis-fired and hit our victim which killed him immediately.

“Having realized that he was dead and since he had given us a contact number, we went ahead to demand ransom from the family.

”We didn’t want to lose out completely since he gave us the contact number of his family members to discuss the payment of the ransom with.

”We kept negotiating with the members and they were not forthcoming with our demands.

”They insisted on talking with the victim before the payment of the ransom. I think they were suspicious that he might have died in our custody. But we lied to them that there was no network where he was kept and that we travelled to where there was a network to talk with them.

“But while we were still negotiating the people around where we were in Okitipupa became suspicious of what was going on, they must have informed the Amotekun people who later swooped on us.

“My other gang members ran away and I was apprehended by the Amotekun personnel.

The suspect who claimed to be a farmer confessed that “I have done two successful kidnap operations and this was my third and nobody wanted to kill the victim but the gun accidentally discharged it self and led to his death.

Speaking on the arrest, the Commander of the Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, said the suspect was arrested following an intelligence report after killing their victim while other members of the gang ran away from the scene.

According to him “the kidnappers abducted the victim and was, however, shot dead while negotiations were still ongoing between the family and the members of the syndicate, but failed to reveal to the family that the victim has died.”

Adeleye said his men around Okitipupa who noticed their movement swooped on them and discovered the corpse of the victim, and apprehended Oyekanmi while others took to their heels.

Metro

JUST IN: Truck Rams Into BRT On Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Published

54 mins ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A truck has rammed into a Lagos State BRT bus at Ibafo bus-stop along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway.

The PUNCH correspondent who went to the scene gathered that the accident occurred around some minutes to 6am on Saturday.

Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Police on response call at the accident scene insisted that only their Public Relations Officers were authorised to speak.

However, unconfirmed reports from onlookers noted that several people on the BRT bus were injured.

Onlookers accounts noted that the BRT was parked loading its passengers at the bus stop before the truck loaded with cows heading to Lagos rammed into it, taking it off the road to destroy shops and kiosks by the roadside.

The cow truck had been towed a little away from the scene so as not to hinder traffic.

Details later

Metro

Court Jails Social Media Influencer For Celebrity Scam

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, has sentenced Aluko Tunmise to one year in prison for his involvement in a celebrity scam.

Tunmise was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a cybercrime-related charge.

This was disclosed in a post on X by EFCC on Friday, May 17.

The post reads: “Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Aluko Tunmise, a self-acclaimed social media influencer and model, to one year imprisonment for celebrity scam.

He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrimes.”

“One of the counts reads: “That you, ALUKO TUNMISE JUWONLO (A.K.A. KEANU REEVES), sometime between January and March, 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, directly made a false statement, wherein you held yourself out as a white man by name “KEANU REEVES” on your Telegram Account, knowing same to be false and with intent that the representation is relied upon for the purpose of procuring the issuance of financial instrument to yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015′.

He pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C.Okezie, sought to present an operative of the EFCC, Vincent Sunday Kwambuge, to review the facts of the matter.

Kwanbuge told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in March, 2024 at Lekki County Estate, Lagos, following credible intelligence received by the Commission on the activities of some internet fraudsters operating in the area.”

Metro

Three Children Rescued As Fire Guts Storey Building In Delta

Published

12 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Editor

Three children have been rescued as fire gutted a-storey building at the Obi Onuorah Crescent back of Okowe plaza in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The PUNCH correspondent who visited the fire scene on Friday, observed that the roof and the two apartments were razed down as property worth millions of naira was damaged.

However, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained as at the time of filling this report

Speaking, a widow and mother of four children, Mrs Gloria Sado who wept profusely appealed to Nigerians to come to her aid.

She said, “I came back Thursday night around 9 pm when I saw a fire burning in our house.

“My three children were in the house, one went with me to market, thank God, it was a lot of effort for my children to be rescued. I didn’t know the cause of the fire

“All the three fire services that came did not have water to quench the fire, our property was burnt to ashes”

Also, her neighbor, Simon Amalimen, and father of two said, “I was in my apartment when I heard fire, fire, I came out and noticed that the fire was coming out from my neighbor’s apartment.

“When learned that the three children were inside the apartment sleeping, we immediately moved into the fire to rescue the children, then, the fire had to gut my apartment.

“Before we could rescue them, the fire had entered my apartment and my two children and my wife were rescued. Only the boxers I wear are the clothes I came out with.”

He said before the third fire service could arrive, the two apartments and property had been burnt.

The victims were currently homeless as sympathizers were said to have gone to buy some clothes for them.

An official of the state fire service who did not want his name mentioned confirmed the incident.