The operatives of the Ondo State Security Network codenamed Amotekun have arrested 28 suspected criminals in different parts of the state for various offenses including two secondary school students who kidnapped themselves for ransom.

The two students of a secondary school aged 13 and 15 abducted themselves, kept themselves in a hotel, and demanded ransom from their parents.

The students were in JSS 3 and SSS 1 at a secondary school in Akoko Southwest Local Government Area of the state.

Parading the students who were in school uniform, Adeleye who is also the Special Adviser to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on security said “Their parent raised an alarm that their children were kidnapped and we swung into action but when they called for ransom we tracked the number we were able to arrest them.

” We appreciate the Department of State Service (DSS) for assisting us in apprehending them.

“When they were negotiating, they even threatened the traditional ruler that if the ransom was not paid within two hours they were going to kill the victims without knowing that they are the criminals perpetrating the act.”

Adeleye said the students were arrested in Oka-Akoko in Akoko Southwest local government area of the state when they wanted to collect ransom from their parents. They demanded N100,000 ransom from their parents and the traditional ruler of the community.

One of the students said she decided to abduct herself because he mother was maltreating her. She said she connived with her sister so that she could use the money to punish her mother.

Giving a breakdown on the number of suspects, Adeleye said 18 were arrested for kidnapping and 10 were arrested for illegal possession of firearms, cult activity, and housebreaking amongst others.

Adeleye said “The total number of 28 suspects we are parading today shows that we have more kidnap suspects than any other criminal activities. This is in continuation of our efforts at ensuring that kidnapping in Ondo State becomes a thing of the past.

“Again, we have people who kidnapped themselves and raised alarm but upon our diligent investigation, we were able to unravel the mystery surrounding their disappearance to the extent that they confessed.

“We equally have kidnap suspects of some very high profile individuals in the society that we are working on. We have a few cases of other possession of firearms, cult activity, and housebreaking but in all, as soon as we complete the investigation they will be charged to court while on light offenses, we will explore the alternative of dispute resolution.

“We have Coker Noah who held two ladies hostage and employed two other men to torture and rape them for weeks before one of the victims had access to the phone and called us and we were able to apprehend them.

“Also, we have a family where the mother specializes in buying daily needs including food for kidnap suspects and victims in Owo and Ifon. We equally have a group that we apprehended along kidnap areas and items found on them include several ATMs they could not explain how they came about it but we suspect that the ATMs belong to the suspects they held hostage and a lot of other things which they could not justify how it came to them”, Adeleye said.

The Amotekun commander also advised the public to be wary of the commercial motorcycles and taxis they board in their daily outings.

His words “We equally want to advise the public to be wary of the new trend of criminal activities now. Most times, the victim will board a motorcycle or taxi and you will see them blowing balloons.

“These balloons are already laced with poisonous gas that makes them dose off and they become unconscious. So, they take the victim to wherever they want and do whatever they want and some of the victims that we were able to recover, most times lose their senses for two-three days.

“They won’t remember where it happened not to talk about identifying the criminals. So, we want to advise the general public to be careful when they board Okada or a taxi”.

According to him, the corps in collaboration with other sister security agencies have carried out several joint patrols to ensure that the state is rid of criminal activities.

Adeleye said “In the last three weeks, we have carried out several joint patrols between the military, Amotekun, the Civil Defense, and the Police and I want to be specific in the area of Jugbere forest where the joint patrol combed the entire forest from Ilale in Owo, coming out from Arimogija, Ute.

“We also combed the entire Ute forest to the boundary between Ondo and Edo and we now moved to Akoko where some of these kidnappers were arrested.