Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested two notorious kidnappers, Chukwuma Bartholomew and Igwe Monday, who were responsible for killing their victims after collecting ransom from their families, News About Nigeria reports.
The successful operation, carried out by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Command, also led to the recovery of the victims’ corpses.
According to reports, Bartholomew and Monday, two members of a seven-man kidnapping gang, were apprehended through technical investigations on June 28, 2024, at around 6:20 pm.
Their arrest came six months after their last operation, in which their victim, 71-year-old Sunday Adekunle Ifelaja, popularly known as Adeife, was kidnapped on December 31, 2023.
Despite the ransom being paid, Ifelaja was never released.
The gang had also been involved in other high-profile kidnappings, including the abduction of Femi Ogunyemi on November 23, 2023.
The search for the gang members began after they killed Oluwaseun Oworu, who was kidnapped from his residence on July 29, 2023.
The gang also robbed Oworu of his properties, including a Point of Sale (PoS) machine issued by Monie Point.
In another incident, they stormed the house of 34-year-old Ogunyemi in Ijebu-Igbo on November 23, 2023, at around 10:10 pm.
After abducting him, they sent a video of him to his family via WhatsApp to demand ransom. Despite receiving the ransom, they refused to release him.
The gang repeated this pattern with Ifelaja, abducting him from his farmhouse on December 31, 2023, and refusing to release him after the ransom was paid.
On June 28, 2024, the Anti-Kidnapping Squad discovered the gang’s hideout in Ijebu-Igbo through a technical-based investigation.
Upon storming the hideout, operatives arrested Bartholomew and Monday, who then led them to the shallow graves where they had buried their victims in the Ijebu-Igbo forest.
Detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department are continuing their efforts to apprehend the remaining members of the gang.
