Okey Sampson, Aba
Soldiers of the 144 Battalion, Asa, Abia State have arrested an alleged notorious kidnap gang ring leader that has terrorized Aba, the commercial nerve of the state and its environs for some time now.
The suspect whose name was given as Chima (surname withheld) a.k.a Red Moon or Phyno and is said to have been on the wanted list of the military for various crimes he and his gang have allegedly committed, hails from Uratta –Umuakwu, a community off the Aba axis of the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway.
A source informed that Chima was responsible for the burning in 2017 in front of Chris Mary Hotel, along the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway, a Toyota Hilux van belonging to an oil company in Rivers State which was conveying some expatriates to Aba from Port Harcourt at that time.
While the foreign oil workers were rescued, according to report, Chima was said to have gone into hiding since then.
Luck, however, ran out on the kidnap kingpin when acting on intelligence report, soldiers arrested him at a hotel in Umuozuo, an Aba suburb where he and members of his gang went to share and enjoy their loot after a robbery operation.
“He snatched a motorbike from someone at Uratta junction and after disposing of it, he went to a hotel located at Umuozuo near Aba to enjoy himself before soldiers got the information and rounded him up”.
A military source said efforts were being made to track down other members of the gang, adding that the suspect would be handed over to the police for further investigation and possible prosecution.