Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested Opeyemi Ibikunle for arranging fake soldiers to kidnap a pastor in Abeokuta, the state capital.
According to reports, the pastor, Mapai Samuel of ZOE Family International Church, Odo Eran, Abeokuta, was forcefully abducted by two men in military uniform as instructed by Opeyemi.
READ ALSO:Police arrest kidnap gang in Abeokuta
The fake soldiers and the woman were said to have invaded the church at about 8:00pm while the pastor was preaching and dragged him away to an unknown destination.
Confirming the arrest, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the command, in the early hour of Thursday, July 14, arrested Opeyemi and one other man identified as Kadiri Jamiu, in connection with the forceful abduction of the pastor.
Their arrest was carried out after a distress call was received by police officers at Aregbe divisional headquarters in Abeokuta.
Oyeyemi disclosed that a few hours after taking away the pastor, the invaders had called to demand a certain amount of money as ransom for his release.
But, the DPO of the Aregbe division, CSP Ikechukwu Gabriel, reportedly detailed his detectives and quickly embarked on a technical and intelligence-based investigation.
“They discovered that the suspects were hiding somewhere around Adigbe area of Abeokuta,” he said.
Opeyemi however, maintained that CSP Gabriel, his men and those of Adigbe division stormed the hideout to rescue the pastor and arrest two of the suspects, saying the two men in military camouflage escaped.
“On interrogation, the woman amongst them claimed to have been in a business relationship with the pastor, and that the Pastor cheated her in the course of the business which made her contact the three men to kidnap the Pastor to teach him a lesson,” Oyeyemi quoted Opeyemi as saying.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the Anti-kidnapping unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), directing that other members of the gang be hunted for and brought to book.
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