Police arrest six kidnappers

The Nigeria Police have arrested six members of a notorious kidnapping
gang involved in the January 12, 2017, killing of an America, Army
veteran, Chuks Okebata in Okigwe, Imo State.
The arrest was made by the Inspector General of Police Special
Intelligence Response Team. The suspect kidnappers were arrested at
different locations in Imo, Abia and Rivers states.
The Police indicated that two Ak-47 rifles and six magazines loaded
with 127 live ammunitions were recovered from the suspects at the
point of their arrest.
In their confessional statement to the police, the suspects were said
to have admitted being members of a deadly armed robbery and
kidnapping gang terrorizing Imo, Abia and Rivers states.
School-Boy, the gang leader, revealed that they never knew that the
deceased was an American soldier.
“He tried to disarm me and in the process was killed. If we had not
killed him, he would have killed us. He was strong with tough muscles
and the only way to save our lives was to kill him,” School Boy had
said.
School Boy, 29 years, was gathered to have further confessed that they
never knew that the deceased had a pistol with him at the time he was
kidnapped.
He narrated: “We bundled him into the boot of our operational vehicle
after he was kidnapped. We didn’t know who he was; while we were
heading to our camp where we hope to keep him until ransom is paid, he
pulled out his gun and started shooting at us from the boot and the
bullet hit me on the leg and the driver on his hand.
“Realizing the danger, I asked our driver to stop the vehicle. As soon
as the vehicle came to a halt we disarmed him. He was killed right
there on the spot. We dumped his body inside a gutter and left. I want
everyone to understand that I have no intention of killing him but he
forced us into doing it.”
Schoool Boy identified as a native of Bende Local Government Area,
Abia State, and a secondary school dropout, also narrated how he went
into crime.
Also, Michael Ahamefuna, 28 years, the second in command in the gang
and married with two children, narrated his ordeal, admitting to the
crime. He narrated how he joined the kidnapping gang: “I reside in
Port Harcourt. I am from Abia State. I am a trader. I met School-boy
in a smoking joint where we smoke drugs and he used to come and smoke
drugs.
“He had injury on his leg then and he took me to his village and we
met one KC. We formed a kidnapping gang. We kidnapped a man who paid
us N1.5 million and we went to another business that paid us N15
million. We also picked someone in Owerri and we took the person to
Iteam in Abia State.
We got N10 million from two victims, the last one that got us into
trouble occurred in October 2018 and we lost our leader in that
operation.”
The deceased victim was said to be a Nigerian serving in the US Army,
identified as Chuks Okebata, was said to be on holidays in Okigwe when
the kidnappers struck and later killed him.