So Funny!!! Kidnappers Release Victims And Abduct Those Who Came To Pay Ransom

Four members of a notorious kidnap gang operating in
Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, nothing could
go wrong, but Wednesday, October 12, 2016 was the
day the long arm of the law caught up with them.
The nine members of the gang, who were
apprehended by the operatives of the Inspector-
General of Police Special Intelligence Response
Team in a five-hour raid that day, said they were so
efficient in their criminal operations that they once
kidnapped four victims on the same day.
The afternoon raid led to the arrest of Daniel Gabriel
(33), Alaso Igodo (25), Akeodi Aselemi (34),
Ayibinmotei Livinus (25), Anikuroka Marshal (33),
Biebele Elijah (34) Efiye Anda (34), Daniel Lessor
(31) and Isaac Reuben (27), all living within the Port
Harcourt metropolis.
The police said the gang was responsible for most
of the kidnappings that took place within GRA Phase
2, Port Harcourt, Borokiri General Area and YKC axis
of Woji in Rivers State.
Saturday Punch learnt that the string of events
which led to the apprehension of the nine suspects
started with the abduction of a woman identified as
Mrs. Okotie, who was kidnapped few weeks ago
opposite the Royal House of Grace Church in Port
Harcourt.
The gang was said to have abducted her in the
Mazda car they used as operational vehicle.
The victim told the police that she had told the
suspects that she was not feeling fine but they did
not listen to her.
Fortunately for Mrs. Okotie, the car broke down
along the way and the leader of the gang named
Blackie, called for another vehicle, a Nissan Primera,
which arrived shortly after.
“But they did not know that we had got information
about them. They were on their way to the Ornage
Waterside when we intercepted them. As soon as
they saw us, they fled and abandoned the woman in
the car along with one of their rifles,” the source
said.
Few days after the botched kidnapping of Mrs.
Okotie, IRT operatives who were following up on a
lead, arrested Gabriel, a taxi driver, around 2.pm on
October 12.
When Gabriel, an Akwa-Ibom indigene living at Navy
Market Borikiri, Port-Harcourt was taken in for
questioning, he confessed that he had personally
been involved in 15 kidnaps in the last few months in
the state.
He then led the police to his house where five
members of the gang were already planning another
kidnap.
“When we got to his house, we arrested five of his
gang members and from there, we proceeded to
Enugu Waterfront where we arrested Anikuroka
Marshal, the gang’s armourer. The suspects also
identified Diobele Elijah and Akodi Aselemi as their
spies who go around town scouting for victims. They
confessed to have three AK47 rifles, two pistols,
which they use in their operations,” a police source
said.
Saturday Punch learnt that in one of the kidnaps
carried out by the gang, on August 10, 2016, a
pastor, Mrs. Luis Ubah and one Mr. Chika Ezenwa
were abducted. The same day, the gang kidnapped a
business woman, Mrs. Ubah in her store, they also
grabbed another victim identified as Ezenwa who
was with Ubah at the time.
The four victims were taken by the gang to the
Indoki Estate Waterfront.
The source explained that while on their way to the
waterfront, the gang encountered a police team and
instantly opened fire on the policemen.
“Inspector David Ijosi and one Corporal Dike Ledee
were injured by bullets in the attack. One was hit in
the leg while another was hit in the neck and the
kidnappers escaped into the Isaka creeks in Okrika,”
the source said.
Soon after, the gang made contact with Ubah’s
husband, Bishop Prince Ubah, from whom they
demanded a N50m ransom for her freedom.
During the ensuing negotiation, the ransom for the
release of the bishop’s wife was reduced to N2.8m
and a place was agreed on for the family to drop the
ransom.
But in a dramatic turn of events, when two brothers
of the bishop, Onyeka Ani and Pastor Okezie Akara,
took the money to the agreed place on August 25,
2016, 15 days after Mrs. Ubah was kidnapped, the
gang members decided to release her along with
Ezenwa but kidnapped the two brothers instead.
The police said they then demanded another N1m
ransom from the bishop for his brothers. But N750,
000 was eventually paid for their release.
Police investigation also showed that in August
2016, the gang kidnapped one Nkechi at YKC
Junction in Woji Town, Port Harcourt, and she was
transported to the Woji Waterfront where they ferried
her by speedboat to Kula community in Akukotoru
Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The woman was reportedly kept in captivity for two
weeks and was released after a ransom of N2m was
paid by her family.
In September, a victim identified as Coachie, who
was abducted around Number One Stadium, Port
Harcourt, was released after a ransom of N2.5m was
paid.
In his statement, Gabriel explained that he came to
Port Harcourt in 2015 and worked as a taxi driver
but when things became difficult for him, he moved
his family back home and joined his first kidnapping
gang.
According to him, he had no idea what happened to
his car, which he converted from a taxi cab to the
gang’s operational vehicle.
“When we were intercepted by the police that day,
we left one gun in the car while escaping while
Blackie escaped with one other rifle. He gave it to
one of our boys, who normally kept our rifles. But
after I was arrested, I took the police to the boy and
they recovered the rifle and my cab,” he said.
However, in his confessional statement, Anda, a
speed boat operator, said he got N200,000 each time
he ferried the kidnappers and their victims to their
camps across the river in his speed boat.
The suspect, a Bayelsa State indigene, said he was
involved in pipeline vandalism and oil theft before
the military destroyed the camps in which they
“cook” the oil, referring to the numerous makeshift
oil refineries that dot creeks where oil militants
operate in the country.
Marshal (the gang’s armourer) on the other hand,
said he was paid N40,000 per each operation.
The suspect, who is an indigene of Opobo-Nkoro
Local Government Area of Rivers State, said he
usually kept the guns in an abandoned bus parked
inside the Baptist Church field in Borokiri.
“I did not usually go out with them for the
operations. My job is to keep the guns,” he said.
Another suspect, Elijah, a native of Okrika in Rivers
State, said he was lured to the gang by his boss,
whom he identified as Elvis.
According to him, his role was to assist Elvis to
monitor the movement of their targets.
“There was a time I followed Elvis three times to spy
on a woman we wanted to kidnap. We could not
carry out the operation because our leader, Blackie
did not come on time. I was also with him in GRA
where we kidnapped the woman who was rescued
by the police. Elvis had only been giving me little
money since I started working with him. But he loved
to buy me a lot of drinks,” he said.
The police said investigation on the scale of the
operations of the gang was still on and that they
were making efforts to arrest other members of the
gang who are now underground.

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