•L-R: Sampson, the evil driver who sold out his master and his accomplices Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Police anti-crime operatives have spoilt the fun for three young men who were savouring the proceeds of a N3.3million ransom paid to them after kidnapping the nanny and three-year-old daughter of a shipping magnate in Port Harcourt , Rivers State.

Ironically, Sampson Michael, a driver to the shipping magnate, has confessed to master-minding the evil plot against his boss, claiming he was propelled by the devil to perpetrate the criminal act.

Parading the suspects before newsmen Monday in Abuja, acting Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, said the trio, whose names were given as Oghechi Umah, Ibiyekaribo Dappa and Sampson Michael, were among a 10-man gang involved in kidnap and extortion in Rivers State under the guise of militancy.

Okiro disclosed that the gang leader, George Kalabiri and two others, including the armourer, were killed recently during a shoot-out with the police while they were on another kidnap mission. The police, he said, are on the trail of four other members of the gang who are at large.

The IGP explained that the suspects were nabbed based on a petition by the father of the three-year-old girl, to the effect that his little daughter, nanny and driver were kidnapped mid-May, 2007, on the way to the kid’s school, after which he got a call requesting for a N150million ransom before the victims would be released.

Okiro said the distraught father actually negotiated with the kidnappers and agreed to pay the sum of #5million out of which he paid #3million on May 19, which led to the release of his daughter, nanny and driver unharmed. A month later, he paid another sum of #300,000, but decided to petition the IGP when the kidnappers mounted pressure on him to pay the balance as agreed.

He was, however, stunned when detectives unmasked his hitherto trusted driver, Sampson Michael, as the brain behind the kidnap plot. The driver, indeed, confessed to committing the crime when he was confronted with technical evidence against him.

Pleading for forgiveness, Sampson admitted co-opting 28-year-old Oghechi Umah and his other accomplices into the kidnap plot, which he hatched, saying he wanted to ensure he had some good money since his master’s company was relocating to Ghana . He also confessed to receiving #300,000 as his share of the #3.3million ransom paid by his master, just as all other members of the gang.

Though momentarily pretending to be a victim, Sampson said he had arranged that himself and his master’s daughter and nanny be held captive and taken into the creeks via Buguma waterside in Port Harcourt , where they spent four days before payment of the first installment of the #5million ransom agreed upon.