According to a report by Punch Metro, the operatives of the Lagos State Police Command have foiled the alleged plot of a gang to kidnap a customs deputy comptroller and her family.
The state’s police spokesperson, CSP Chike Oti, in a statement on Sunday, said the alleged kidnappers, Yomi Odudare and Olugbenga Ojo, were arrested after detectives attached to the Area D Command, Mushin, Lagos, thwarted their plan.
He said, “Acting on the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Edgal Imohimi, the Area D commander assembled a decoy team which played along with a caller who had been making business calls to 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 the conclusion that he was up to something sinister.
“The team found out that aside from being a notorious criminal in the area, the caller, later discovered to be one Yomi Odudare, was into land business. So, the detectives called him to meet them for a land deal and he agreed.”
Oti said the police arrested Odudare at an agreed meeting point and during a brief interrogation, the suspect confessed that the plan to kidnap the custom’s deputy comptroller and her family was the idea of one Olugbenga Ojo.
Ojo was said to be a former driver of the uncle of the deputy comptroller.
It was learnt that the men planned to kidnap the customs officer after first abducting her brother, Theophilus.
The driver, according to the police, confessed to the plot upon receiving a monitored call from Odudare, who was in police custody at the time.
“Odudare told him (Ojo) on the telephone to let them meet because he had successfully kidnapped the lawyer (Theophilus). He (Ojo) was happy and so he rushed to the venue, straight into the waiting arms of police detectives investigating the case,” the police spokesperson added.
Oti said the CP advised Lagosians to be cautious of involvement in any business dealings with questionable sources.
He said, “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 Ojo, a former employee of the deputy comptroller’s uncle, that person must be killed because the family members knew him.
“The CP Lagos, wishes to use this opportunity to advise Lagosians to be wary of people who call them out for lucrative business deals as it may turn out to be a ploy to kidnap or harm them. He, however, assured that the command would remain proactive in the fight against crime in the state.”