Parading the suspect on Wednesday, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, said the suspect was a member of a five-man kidnapping gang who operated a fake Facebook account in the name of Dangote.
He said the suspect had via Facebook, proposed to the victim, Miss Sa-adat Usman Bibire, who is a beauty queen that he would like to make her a brand ambassador for Dangote Noodles, an offer she hurriedly accepted.
He said further:
“Thereafter, the victim proceeded to Warri in Delta State from Lagos to meet with the fake Aliko Dangote and was subsequently kidnapped and a N20 million ransom was immediately demanded from the father of the victim.
“The father was directed to transfer the ransom to a bank account in Malaysia before his daughter would be released.
“Upon receipt of the complaint from the victim’s father, I directed the officer in charge of SARS, Superintendent of Police (SP) Abba Kyari, to launch a massive hunt for the kidnappers and to track the whereabouts of the victim.”
Kyari was said to have worked in conjunction with telecom operators to track the suspect’s phone numbers.
Aderanti spoke further: “Having collated the necessary data, Kyari immediately deployed two decoy teams of police detectives to Warri, Delta State, and after seven days of meticulous follow ups, the victim was successfully rescued at a house on the outskirts of Ozoro town in Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
“It was during the raid of the criminal hideout, that one of the kidnappers, Patrick Ifada, 23, was arrested by the police. He was the gang’s surveillance officer within the hideout.”
THISDAY Live however reports that Ifada, in his statement, denied knowledge of the plan to kidnap the victim, alleging that the plot was hatched by Marcus Omojuwa, his bosom friend, who also provided the Malaysian account used for the transaction. Omojowa is however on the run.
He said: “My name is Patrick Ifada and I am 23 years old. I am a student of Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro. I am in my first year. I am reading Computer Science. We are five in number and are all students of Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro.
“The house where we kept the girl belongs to Marcus. The house is a private hostel. It was Marcus who operates the fake Facebook account and all the transactions and discussions were between Marcus and the victim.
“Marcus got the girl’s profile online after she was declared the winner of a beauty pageant. While chatting her up on Facebook, he told the girl that he is Alhaji Aliko Dangote and that he would like to make her one of the brand ambassadors of the company’s noodle.
“The girl bought the idea. One day, she flew into Delta through Warri Airport, from where we directed her to come to Ozoro. She eventually discovered that she had been taken for a ride when she met Marcus.
“It was there and then that Marcus told her to ask her father to pay the sum of N20 million into the Malaysian account. She stayed with us for two weeks during which we fed her with Indomie noodles, rice and at times we bought her food from a nearby eatery.
“During her stay, Marcus warned us not be violent with the girl. After a week and money was not forthcoming, Marcus reduced the amount to N15 million and later to N500,000.”
Narrating how he was arrested by the police, the suspect added, “I had just finished eating and I went outside to wash my hands when I saw some vehicles heading towards our hostel and before I knew what was going on, the police swooped down on me, while others took to their heels.”
Aderanti said efforts were being made to arrest the other members of the gang.
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