By Ekamma UBA, Senior Staff Investigator Writer, Lagos.
ATTEMPT by a sacked former driver to kidnap his ex-boss’s wife (names withheld) a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, his cousin, simply identified as Barrister Mike has been foiled by Police detectives attached to ‘Area D’ Command, Mushin Lagos. Both the mastermind and his accomplice identified as Messrs Olugbenga Kehinde Ojo and Yomi Odundare have been arrested even as Police have launched a manhunt against fleeing gang members. Sources said the ex- driver who worked as one of the drivers to the husband of the Customs chief was sacked barely one year after his engagement when it was discovered that he was of questionable character. According to sources, the sacked ex- driver who claimed to come from Osun State and holder of a National Diploma in Legal Studies from one of the Polytechnics in the West said he had to resort to crime to fend for himself and cater to his wife and newborn baby boy. He said his idea to kidnap Barrister Mike was borne out of the fact that it would be difficult to do same to the woman Customs officer and her children because of the CCTV Cameras in the Lekki Phase 1 resident adding that if the lawyer was kidnapped, both the Customs officer and her husband said to be an Estate Manager would cough out any demanded ransom. He therefore, found a ready accomplice in Yomi Odudare, a self- acclaimed Surveyor who works as a Security guard in Aja. CrimeWorld gathered that Yomi, a notorious criminal who is said to be the kingpin of criminals operating in Aja and environs promptly commenced calling the unsuspecting lawyer, telling him that he had some landed property for sale. The lawyer readily gave in since he was also into property consultancy. It was hinted that the first meeting with the supposed land sellers didn’t hold adding that it held a week after when Yomi for whatever reason, revealed that they were actually meant to kidnap him (the lawyer) for a N500m ransom. The frightened lawyer was said to have been hauled into a waiting jeep with two other occupants at an appointed eatery for the meeting and driven to a nearby Shoprite having assured him that they would not harm him. sources said it was at the gate of the Shoprite that the plot to kidnap him, his customs officer cousin and or his children was revealed to him. “I was shocked and shivering when Yomi told me that they were not selling any landed property but that it was Kehinde that asked them to kidnap me for a ransom of N500m. he also told me that the same Kehinde said my Cousin’s husband has properties everywhere in the world including Canada, Dubai, UK Nigeria etc and that he deal so raw gold as he was always travelling abroad. He even showed me the picture of Kehinde in his phone
and I begged him to forward it into my WhatsApp which he did. So I took him to an ATM point, called him closer to see my account balance and I told him that I was a struggling lawyer who had yet to make it, and later withdrew N4,000.00 for him and he thanked me and they left me. Before then, he even told me that Kehinde asked them to kill after collecting the ransom because according to him, I would identify him the moment I spot him,” narrated the visibly distraught 37 year old lawyer.
But corroborating the Lawyer’s tale of woes, Yomi however, said he backed out on the kidnap bid after consulting a spiritualist on the viability of the job and was advised not to go ahead with the deal. He said “True, when Kehinde brought the ideal, I called my boys together and we discussed the amount and Kehinde said he would give me N30m out of the ransom and w e agreed on the sharing formula; but you know, kidnapping needs a lot of finances to actualize. None of my boys was ready to bring out their own contributions and I felt I couldn’t finance it all alone; more so when I met with my elder brother and sold the idea to him, he advised against it. But since I did not wants to get Kehinded offended, I decided to play along with him because from what he told me, his former employer has a lot of money including raw gold. I had known Kehinde for the past six years, he comes around me when he had no job and I gave him what I had but when he brought this job two weeks ago, he complained that his wife had just put to bed and he needed money to cater to them.”
Lagos State Police image maker, CSP Chike Oti who confirmed the arrest said , “Yesterday, June 16, 2018 an attempt to kidnap a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, her younger brother and her son was thwarted by police detectives attached to Area-D-Command, Mushin, Lagos. Acting under the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Edgal Imohimi, the Area D Commander quickly assembled a decoy team which played along with a caller who had been calling Barrister Yisa Theophilus, the younger brother of the female officer. The police team ran a quick check on the caller based on available information and came to conclusion that he was up to something sinister. The team found out that aside being a notorious criminal in the area, the caller, later discovered to be one Yomi Odudare, was into land selling business (omonile). So the detectives called him to meet with them for a land deal and he agreed.
Continuing, CSP Oti said, “Yesterday, 16/06/18, being the day they agreed to meet, the detectives went along with the younger brother of the female officer Yisa Theophilus whom he had been calling frequently. They met the suspect at a project site in Ajah, Lagos, called Fara-park and he was promptly arrested. During a brief interrogation at the scene of arrest, the suspect confessed that he has never met the lawyer nor any member of his family. He however said that the idea to kidnap Bar Yisa, his sister and her son came from one Olugbenga Kehinde Ojo, a former Driver to the Deputy Comptroller’s uncle. He added that the idea was to kidnap the lawyer and force him to lure out his sister, who is a Deputy Comptroller of Customs. To make his story believable, he put a call to the said Olugbenga Kehinde Ojo. He told him to meet up with him, that he had successfully kidnapped the lawyer. He was happy and so he rushed to the venue, straight into the waiting arms of police detectives investigating the case. Both suspects took the police to a shanty, surrounded by water, situate in Eleko, along Lekki/Epe expressway, Lagos, which they prepared as a hostage ground for their would be victims. It was the agreement of both suspects that in order to avoid the mistakes of the notorious kidnapper, Evans, the moment any of their potential victims sights Olugbenga Ojo, a former employee of the Deputy Comptroller’s uncle, that person must be killed because they all know him. “
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