Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
ABUJA — Operatives of the Force Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested three suspected kidnap-for-ransom suspects over an alleged conspiracy to kidnap their church member and demands for ransom.
The Commander of the FIB-IRT, Deputy Commissioner of Police Adamu Sa’idu, disclosed this on Thursday at a media briefing on the achievements of the Police intelligence unit in Guzape, Abuja.
He said the key suspects were rounded up after attempts to kidnap their target, a fellow church member and pastor, in the Jikwoyi area of the nation’s capital. The suspects had allegedly rammed the vehicle of their target with a vehicle in order to stop her on her way home after a church service.
The suspects — David Obaje, 26; David Dennis, 39; and Dikachi Emmanuel, 26 — were apprehended by the operatives of the lead internal security agency at about 06:38 hours for the attempted kidnapping of Pastor Elizabeth Amaka Afobike, 59, of Gwarimpa, Abuja, a female pastor of the Blessed Holy Church, Keyegyi, Abuja.
Their modus operandi, according to the commander, was to pursue the vehicle of their target and hit her from behind while driving, so that when she came out to inspect the damage, they would kidnap her and whisk her away.
Luck, however, ran out on them while they planned to execute the act along the Jikwoyi-Karu road in the nation’s capital, when the pastor was returning from their weekly mid-week service, having shared a testimony of breakthrough in life with the suspects, who were her church members.
Exhibits recovered from them include one Toyota Corolla, one locally fabricated gun and a black sewn combat uniform used as a police camouflage uniform.
Other suspected criminal kingpins were also apprehended by the Police operatives for unlawful possession of firearms and armed robbery at various times.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, has commended the team for a thorough job and charged the Police crack team to do more intelligence-driven policing to rid the nation of all forms of crimes and criminality.
All the arrested suspects, according to the Police authorities, would be charged to the nation’s law courts for prosecution upon the conclusion of their investigation.
