By Ngozi Uwujare
The Benue State Police Command has arrested four suspected armed robbers and kidnappers who, according to the police, had been terrorizing the state for some time.
The bizarre thing about the suspects is, they abduct and rape women, after which they marry the victims.
It was gathered that as many as ten victims had been kidnapped by the suspects. They also robbed passengers along Nasarawa/Benue Expressway and other highways in Benue State.
The Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Wale Abbas told Saturday Sun that the four suspects and other members of their gang were specialists in kidnapping passengers along the Nasarawa/Makurdi axis. He said they also robbed passengers and raped their victims after they have collected valuable items from such victims.
He explained that the kidnappers usually took their victims to their hideouts, raped the female victims and them married them as their wives.
CP Abbas stated that when the information got to the police, the police operatives swung into action and raided the hideouts of the suspects in the bush along Makurdi/ Nasarawa axis. The suspects were later arrested on January 17, 2022. He said his men recovered arms and ammunitions from them.
He gave the names of the suspects as Timothy Obi, Lawrence Addo, Mohammed Isa and Lawal Salami. He said the suspects have confessed to the crime.
One of the suspects, Mohammed Isa told Saturday Sun that he hailed from Kaduna State.
“We are kidnappers and armed robbers. We specialised in kidnapping passengers. We kidnapped female victims, married them off as our wives and they would then begin to live with us. We do marry the female victims so that they can assist us to feed other victims in the bush.
“We are over 20 members in our gang of kidnappers and armed robbers. We have had several attacks from the policemen and the military. Though they killed our members, we would later regroup and form another gang. We collected some of our AK47 rifles from the policemen after attacking them. We didn’t stop the kidnapping until we were arrested by the police,” he said.
Another suspect, Lawrence Addo, who said he hails from Kogi State spoke with Saturday Sun. “We are into armed robbery and kidnapping and we have been in this for over two years now. I joined the gang three years ago. I am the one who always watches out for the female victims. I have married two female victims I now have three children from them. It was when we quarrelled that the female victims escaped from the bush with my three children. I tried to look for her, but I didn’t see her. We were eventually arrested when we wanted to go for another kidnapping. I have confessed to the police and begged them to forgive me.”
