THE 10-man kidnap gang, which abducted Prof Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been torn apart as a result of sharing the ransom collected for the release of the Queen of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom in Delta State.
The new leader of the gang reportedly bolted away with N1million share of another member of the gang.
The affected member, 32 –year-old Andrew, aka Olokpa, from Edo state, who was desperately in need of money, decided to go on a reprisal mission by forming a new kidnap gang and was caught by the police.
He is presently on detention at the Delta State Police Command headquarters in Asaba.
He was seized on Thursday when police, acting on intelligence information, lured him to sell one of the guns in his possession, which was used in the kidnap of the queen mother of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom.
His arrest was confirmed to Saturday Vanguard, yesterday, in Asaba by the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba.
Hired for the operation
The suspected kidnapper, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard from the police cell, yesterday, however, asserted he was not among the main 10-man kidnap gang that abducted Prof Okonjo.
He stated that he was merely hired to supply food to Prof Okonjo in the bush, where she was kept on two occasions.
Commissioner Aduba, who maintained that that the police was not in support of payment of ransom to kidnappers and was not told by the family of Okonjo that they paid ransom to kidnappers, told Saturday Vanguard that nemesis would catch up with the remaining kidnappers, as the police have a database on them.
He confirmed our information that the second-in-command of the gang, who took over from the former leader and kidnap kingpin, Nwaeze Nwosa, a.k.a Bolaji, after he was shot dead by the police, Thursday, December 13, bolted away with N1 million share of the ransom kept for another member, Olokpa.
The gang members seriously disagreed on the action of the new leader and advised him to return Olokpa’s money to him, as he was the one in who took care of Prof Okonjo in their hideout.
The kidnap leader refused and Olokpa, who was in possession of the arms and ammunition used for the operation was in desperate money for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
He reportedly formed another kidnap gang, which went for an operation in Aboh in Ndokwa area of the state.
The gang successfully kidnapped the victim but was confronted on the way out by the vigilance group in the area, which riddled its vehicle with bullets.
