[PICTURED] police fight over abductees in Enugu

Musa Adamu and Ogbonna Ikechukwu are as different as North and South. One thing brought them though, the zeal to learn the art of kidnapping. Their joint interest has also led them into police net.

 
Musa Adamu, a native of Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State, realised early in life that he would not make a headway going to school.
Immediately he left the primary school, he told his parents of his desire to seek pastures new down of the Niger. The step into the unknown took Adamu to the south eastern part of the country and he soon found a home in Enugu, the capital of Enugu State.
That was way back in 2011. When Adamu, together with three of his peers, arrived in Enugu, he soon cut a tooth for himself in the kidnapping world.
While his other peers turned to cart pushing, Adamu, 22, teamed up with a gang of kidnappers based in the town. He, however, needed to learn the ropes before becoming expert enough to export kidnapping to his native Sokoto State as he later confessed before security operatives.

Adamu seems to share similar fate with one Ogbonna Ikechukwu, whose his lifelong dream of travelling out of the country for greener pasture reportedly made him team up with the gang hoping his share of the ransom due him in the deal. Ikechukwu, 29, is a native of Ebonyi State, but lives in Port Harcourt, the Rives State capital. While he was in Port Harcourt, Ikechukwu reportedly received a call from a friend to join in executing a ‘project’. He raced to Enugu and was made to pair up with Adamu.

As neophytes in the kidnap syndicate, Adamu and Ikechukwu’s roles were to look after kidnapped victims while the kingpins continue negotiations for their (victims’) release. Adamu and his new partner, Ikechukwu were carrying out that role some days back after their gang allegedly kidnapped one Ozor John Chukwu on Wednesday, July 7, 2013.
The kidnap reportedly took place at Amankpuma Oduma Aninri at the man’s compound in the state. Chukwu was reportedly whisked to Akpugo where they hid him. Whist the man was held captive and the gang leaders were shuttling the town and the forest negotiating the man’s release, Adamu reportedly gave his gang away.

It was reported that while Adamu and Ikechukwu stayed with the kidnapped man, Adamu was always sent to a nearby village to get items for the two of them and the victim. Since the victim was from the same stock as Ikechukwu, he was assigned to always be with him in case there was need for discussions between them.
It was while on such a trip that Adamu inadvertently gave his gang away. It was reported that on his way to a nearby village in one evening, Adamu was accosted by a group of vigilance group keeping watch of the community.
The group reportedly accosted him, having told them that he was not a resident of the area, what his mission was in the area.

Since he does not speak Igbo, Adamu soon began to fidget and the suspicion of the group grew. After much pressure on him, Adamu claimed that he was in a nearby forest to farm with his colleagues, but his explanations were found not to hold water.
The vigilance group then prevailed on him to take them to the acclaimed farm settlement. After about two hours of wandering in the forest, the vigilance group began to vent their anger on Adamu who eventually took them to his gang’s hideout.
It was reported that once the vigilance group discovered the two men’s mission, they alerted the antikidnapping policemen who raced to the community. While on their way, the law enforcement agents reportedly met other members of the gang coming into the hideout, and a fierce gun duel ensued.

In the end, Victor Godwin, Titus Ani ,Adamu Musa, Ikechukwu Ogbonna, Titus Eze, and Onyebuchi Offor were arrested. From them were recovered one locally-made short gun; two live cartridges; one axe and one Toyota Hiace Bus with registration NO RBC 674 XC belonging to a Local Government mass transit company and charms.
Speaking to Saturday Mirror in Enugu, Ikechukwu claimed that Adamu’s conversation with the vigilance group gave them away. “I was doing my work in Port Harcourt when my brother’s friend called me to come to Enugu for a business.
They called me to come and help to repair a bus, but I never knew that they were kidnappers. “I had no choice but to fall in line as they promised that I would be well rewarded should I help to safeguard the victim.
So, when Adamu was going to town to buy us something, he was challenged by the vigilance group and he started talking with them.

That was how they got to know where we were and what we were doing there,” Ikechukwu said. In his own confession, Adamu claimed that he was not told how much he would get after the ransom was paid. “I was drafted into the gang by an Igbo friend who assured me that I would not be involved in shooting or anything like that.
When I met the gang, they truly gave me and Ikechukwu the job of securing the man. That was what we did for about a week before I was sent to the village to get some items for our use.

“While I was going in the night, I met the vigilance group who asked where I lived there. It was when I told them that I did not live there that they became curious what I was doing there at the time. When I could not give a convincing explanation, they threatened to kill me if I did not take them to where I was coming from.

That was what made me take them to where we kept the man,” Adamu said. Speaking on the arrest of the suspects in his office, Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Adamu Mohammed, lauded the zeal of the leadership of the anti-kidnapping unit for the safe rescue of the victim. Adamu however promised to conclude investigations into the matter and have the kidnappers prosecuted.
He also assured residents of the state of their safety as he called on them to always offer useful information to law enforcement agents which he said would aid the war against crime.