Wife assists husband to kidnap her boss

 

A suspected kidnapper has told how a gang member’s wife, assisted them in kidnapping her boss, a multi-million in Lagos State.

Incidentally the woman’s husband, Ugo, had been to prison twice for kidnapping, which she knew, but apparently did not see anything wrong in assisting him to kidnap her boss.

Dominic George, a suspected robber and kidnapper who gave the information to the police, explained that Ugo, a gang member, now at large, was assisted by his wife to monitor her boss’s movements.

George said: “Ugo’s wife works for the man. She works in one of his hotels. About four of us on that day kidnapped the man at Lusada area of Ogun State.”

George with Umukoro Samuel and Abayomi Olatunji are presently in police custody.

Aside from kidnapping, the gang was alleged to have robbed Airtel warehouse and tied the police guard attached to the warehouse, before taking his AK47 rifle.

It was further gathered that the gang specialises in stealing back up batteries for telecom masts.

One AK 47 rifle and a double barrel gun were recovered from the gang.

The investigation of the suspects was stalled when most of the victims they kidnapped, refused to come forward to testify. But now continued

A police source said: “Most of the victims we called, said they were afraid to come forward and testify because they were afraid that once the matter gets to the court, the suspects would be released and come after them. The gang has robbed Airtel warehouse in GRA, Ikeja and collected AK47 rifle from a policeman. They were planning another robbery before Officer in Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS); SP. Abba Kyarri got a tip-off. Kyarri quickly drafted a team and they raced to the scene. The suspects were arrested at the Alakuko area of Lagos. Abayomi and George were arrested first and used as bait to catch Samuel.”

One of the kidnapped victims, who was finally braved enough to answer police calls, identified himself simply as Igwe.

He recalled: “They kidnapped me at Lusada in Ogun State, in April. 2013. They collected ransom of one million and fifty thousand naira.”

 George, 42, father of six, confessed that he told his friend Umukoro that he desperately needed a job, in order to take care of his kids and wife, but he never asked to be taken into robbery and kidnapping operations.

George, who sells foodstuff at Igando, where he met Umukoro and became friendly with him, added he never knew that his best buddy was into robbery and kidnapping.

It was due to his incessant complaint to Umukoro that he needed a well-paying job, that his friend brought Uche to him.

George recalled: “Umukoro introduced Uche as his friend. Uche said he had a business for us. He said that he wanted us to go and kidnap somebody. He said that was how we would make money. I asked him how that was possible, but my friend Umukoro said I should leave everything to him.We robbed eight pieces of MTN Mast batteries along Benin Express last year.”

George continued: “After we collected the one million and fifty thousand naira from Igwe, we shared it. I was given only N100, 000. Abayomi collected N50, 000, while Umukoro took N90, 000. The second operation was the robbery of Airtel Warehouse. We were many that went for that operation. We stormed the place at midnight. We carted away Airtel cable wires. We used a truck to carry the cables. I didn’t know how much it was sold but I received only N200, 000. The third operation was what led to our arrest.”

Remembering how they met their waterloo, George said that Abayomi told the gang that the operation would fetch them N30 million.

 Olatunji, 32, a farmer, confessed that his farm was where they used to keep kidnapped victims.

He said: “We fed him with rice and water. It was Ugo who lured me into kidnapping. Ugo and his friend had done it twice and had been arrested twice. They were jailed. When they came out, they did this one and decided to bring the victim to my farm. They gave me N50, 000.00. I had only gone with them for the Alakuko planned robbery.”

Samuel, 32, father of three, said that he participated only in one kidnapping, adding that it was Dominic that introduced him to the gang.