Mohammed Shosanya
Two secondary school girls have been arrested by the Amotekun Corps in Oka-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of Ondo State, for claiming being kidnapped and demanded ransom from their parents to guarantee their release.
The Corps Commander, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye,told newsmen on Monday that the girls, one 13 years old and the other 15 years old, were hiding somewhere and called their mother as kidnappers who abducted her daughters.
They demanded N100,000 from their mother and threatened the monarch of the town to pay the ransom within 24 hours or they would kill the abductees in their custody.
According to the Corps Commander, the telephone line used by the girls was tracked to where they were holing up.
The younger sister disclosed that she and her sister spent the night in their grandma’s place and left their around 6:00am.
She said,on their way home, her elder sister told her that she had a plan to get money from their mother.
She then revealed her plan to declare themselves kidnapped and ask for ransom of N50,000 from their mother.
It was her sister who taught her what to say when they put a call through to their mother.
She said they didn’t know that it was the monarch that was speaking with them on the phone when they threatened to kill their captives if they failed to pay the ransom quickly.
No fewer than 28 suspects were paraded by the formation,among them were hostage takers, who allegedly raped their victims for three consecutive days in their hiding in Ilaje local government area of the state.
Akogun Adeleye said that some suspects were arrested during intense joint raiding of the forests in Owo, Ifon and Akoko areas of the state to dislodge kidnappers hiding in the forests.
He also said that many ATM cards were found in possession of some of the suspects and they could not explain how they came about them.
According to him, the ATM cards were suspected to belong to their various victims who they kidnapped in the past.
He advised the public to beware of people(kidnappers) who pretend to be blowing balloon either on motorbike or in a commercial vehicle, particularly taxi cab, saying they tactically blow some sedating substance that makes their victims fall asleep and lose their memories.
