come out of his unpleasant situations as he joined a notorious kidnap
gang that specialises in kidnapping little children from church.
According to the 26-year-old father of one, who is currently cooling
off in one of the dreaded cells at the State Criminal Intelligence and
Investigations Department, SCIID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos; he had
participated in three different kidnappings of children. He stated
that his first operation was successful but luck ran out on him on his
second attempt. He was arrested, arraigned in court and remanded in
Kirikiri prisons for about a year. But no sooner than he got his
freedom, he took to the same crime again, he was never twice lucky.
Speaking to Crime Guard, Ogunsawe said: "I am from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun
State. I am a National Diploma, Accounting student of Lagos State
Polytechnic. I was arrested because I was involved in the kidnap of a
young child of about four years from Amazing Grace Church in Palm
groove area. I was introduced into kidnapping business by a friend
called Olayinka.
"I have known him for over six years. It was Olayinka who came up
with the kidnapping idea. My role was to collect the ransom from the
parents of the victim. This is not the first time we have engaged in
kidnapping of little children. In fact, I have engaged in three
kidnappings. The first one was successful while the last two were
not.
I was arrested after the second kidnapping while attempting to cash
the ransom at the bank but my friend Olayinka, escaped. I was in
Kirikiri for almost a year before I was released. When I returned from
prison, I was jobless when Olayinka came and lured me into it again.
Their mode of operation
"Normally, Olayinka goes into any church of his choice on Sunday
morning, sits like a member inside the church and monitors the
activities and movement of worshippers in the church. When he is
certain that he can lure a child out of the church premises unnoticed,
he quickly lures the child with biscuit or toys. After successfully
abducting the victims, he takes them to another big church located
very far from the church where the children were kidnapped.
We never killed or sold any child. We only keep the child for a day
and ensure we get whatsoever ransom we need to get from the victim's
parents. We ensure that we get the ransom first thing on Monday
morning before the child will be seen. He abandons a large envelope
addressed to the pastor in the church with a phone number. Once they
contact us through the number, we send bank details to the parents
of the victim.
"The first kidnap operation was in a Redeemed Christian Church in
Shomolu area and it was successful. We were paid N300,000 but
Olayinka gave me N70,000 only, as he said we incurred some expenses,
that was why he took the larger sum. Unfortunately, the second
operation was unsuccessful as I was arrested, arraigned in court and
remanded in prison from June 2013 to January 10 2014.
Honestly, I didn't need anyone to tell me to stay away from crime
after my release from the prison but I didn't have a choice. When I
was released, I started squatting with my cousin, Akorede, in Akilo
Street close to Lady-Lak area. That was after I was ejected from the
rented apartment where I lived because I was unable to pay the rent.
My wife and son had to go live with her parents in Ota.
"This last operation, Olayinka initially, asked the victim's parents
to pay N700,000 but, they said they will pay N250,000. They later
sent N3,000 airtime to Olayinka. He transferred N1,500 to my line
the next day after I confronted him for collecting the ransom behind
me. Because I was broke, I transferred N750 to my cousin Akorede, who
I was squatting with.
We used an old registered line of mine for the transaction. It was
that line that he used to transfer the air time to my main line. It
was through the transferred airtime that Akorede was arrested,
unknown to me.
-Vanguard
No comments:
Post a Comment