Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a suspected kidnapper who abducted a commercial bus driver and conductor in Gombe State.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr Salami Bolaji, who confirmed the arrest in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the suspect was arrested by his men in Ore, headquarters of Odigbo Local Government Area.
The Commissioner disclosed that the suspect was involved in various armed robbery operation in Gombe State before he was caught in Ondo State.
He said the suspect had recently robbed a Hummer bus with registration number Gombe: NFD 591 XA, kidnapping its driver and conductor in Gombe State.
He said the suspect and members of his robbery gang escaped from Gombe State after the robbery and kidnapping operations, repainted the Hummer bus, fixed a forged number plate marked “Kogi XA 451 AN”, and headed for the South-West believing that nobody could trace them and their loot
The police chief said following a recent kidnapping incident in Akoko district, he ordered his men to comb every part of the State, including surrounding forests, to ensure that the perpetrators of the kidnapping attacks in Akoko were apprehended and brought to justice.
‘With such instruction, it was like igniting the fire for effective raiding across the State,’ the Commissioner said, ‘the result of which was the rescue of a lady that was kidnapped around same Akoko axis and the arrest of the Gombe kidnapping suspect and the recovery of the stolen vehicle.’
According to him, ‘this would not have been so easy without credible intelligence gathering and the support of the good people of Ondo State.
‘It is so obvious that the people of Ondo State and other security agencies in the State are police friendly. With this kind of support in information sharing, I’m sure there will be no hiding place for criminals in Ondo State. I pray we continue this way, during and after the governorship election coming soon.’