Kidnappers waylaid some workers at Megabolex Quarry site, Idi Ayunre area, on Ibadan-Ijebu Ode Road, Oyo State, on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, abducting three of them.
The workers were said to have been blocked at about 4:30pm when they were coming out of the quarry site and leaving for their homes after closing for the day.
One of the workers, Tope Solomon, who escaped from the kidnappers by the whiskers, had reported at Idi Ayunre police station at about 4:50pm, that he and others were coming from the quarry site at about 4:30pm, after closing from work, when they were ambushed by the kidnappers who succeeded in abducting three of them.
He told the police that the abducted workers, identified as Ubong Jacob, Amisu Isaac and Wasiu, were taken to an unknown destination by their captors.
It was further learnt that on getting the report, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station were joined by police operatives from the division, the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) team, led by the Officer-in-Charge, Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) team, other tactical teams as well as local hunters and vigilante members, and began to search the bush, to get the kidnappers, arrest them and rescue the victims.
As at the time of filing this report, Thenewsbearer learnt that the police operatives, the hunters and vigilante members were still combing the bush.
It was further gathered the Oyo State Police Command had also contacted its Ogun State counterpart, for collaboration in apprehending the kidnappers who might want to use the forest route linking the two states to hold their victims captive, in order to demand for ransom.
Thenewsbearer also gathered that the kidnappers had made contacts with the victims’ bosses, first demanding millions of naira, which they beat down to N1 million.
After negotiations, the victims’ contacts were said to have offered N250,000, making the abductors to know that the captives were mere casual workers looking for a means of survival.
Confirming the abduction, the police image-maker in the state, CSP Olugbenga Fadeyi said that the command had intensified efforts to rescue the abductees, as police tactical teams had been deployed by the Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko, to go after the kidnappers in the bush, in collaboration with local hunters and vigilante members.
