* 20 suspected kidnappers among 29 arrested suspects – Commander
The Commander, Ondo State Amotekun Corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, has said that operatives of the corps went deep into the forests in the state to arrest criminals including the abductors of a 23 years old woman, Regina Olayemi Odey.
Odey, who was abducted from farm, spent seven days in hostage in the forests before she was released.
Adeleye said in Akure, the Ondo State capital, while parading 29 suspected criminals apprehended for involvement in various offences including kidnapping, rape, illegal possession of firearms, cultism and house breaking among others.
He also spoke on how the corps rescued the 23-year-old Odey, saying; “We set out to pick up the suspected criminals, especially the kidnappers. We were also out to rescue the victims who had gone through terrible times in their hands.
“We had to cross the river before we were able to arrest them. We were attacked by majority of them. We also found out that these criminals live in our forests along Ala-Dada, Jugbere, up to Ijagba and we were able to comb the forests.’’
“The resurgence of kidnapping within the state made us go deep into forests to fish out these kidnappers. We have a total number of 29 criminals and about 20 of them are suspected kidnappers.
“Some of these criminals engage in feeding victims, charging their phones, and a lot of other things that they do.
“We also invited all those who came to complain that they were kidnapped in the last three to four months in the state and they were able to identify the majority of them.
One of the kidnap victims who was at the parade, Odey said she spent seven days in the den of the bandits and she was released after the payment of N350,000.
She said, “On that fateful day, we were at the farm and suddenly we saw these three kidnappers coming towards us. I told my sisters that these Fulani people were coming to our side and that I would run to escape, but they (my sisters) said that I should not go anywhere that they (Fulanis) would not do anything to us.
“When they got to us, they asked us to kneel down and we knelt down. At that moment we started begging them. Two of them were with guns while the third person was with cutlass. They later asked me to stand up and told me that I should follow them. They took a cassava stick and started beating me as we were going.
“I spent seven days with them, they asked for my dad’s number, but I told them that I did not know it off-hand because I could not remember anything that moment.
“I later told them I did not have parents again, that they had died, and that I just came to the village to help my sisters so that I will get money to take care of myself when I get back to school.
“But they said it was a lie, that they knew everything about my family and I later gave them my number because I was not with my phone on that day. Immediately I gave them my number, they started calling the line. One of my sisters that came from Akure to our village picked up the call and they informed her that they had kidnapped me,” she said.
