For members of a notorious kidnap gang
operating in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State
capital, nothing could go wrong, but
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 was the day
the long arm of the law caught up with them
The nine members of the gang, who were
apprehended by the operatives of the
Inspector-General of Police Special
Intelligence Response Team in a five-hour
raid that day, said they were so efficient in
their criminal operations that they once
kidnapped four victims on the same day.
The afternoon raid led to the arrest of Daniel
Gabriel (33), Alaso Igodo (25), Akeodi
Aselemi (34), Ayibinmotei Livinus (25),
Anikuroka Marshal (33), Biebele Elijah (34)
Efiye Anda (34), Daniel Lessor (31) and Isaac
Reuben (27), all living within the Port
Harcourt metropolis.
The police said the gang was responsible for
most of the kidnappings that took place
within GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt, Borokiri
General Area and YKC axis of Woji in Rivers
State.
It Was learnt that the string of events which
led to the apprehension of the nine suspects
started with the abduction of a woman
identified as Mrs. Okotie, who was kidnapped
few weeks ago opposite the Royal House of
Grace Church in Port Harcourt.
The gang was said to have abducted her in
the Mazda car they used as operational
vehicle.
The victim told the police that she had told
the suspects that she was not feeling fine but
they did not listen to her.
Fortunately for Mrs. Okotie, the car broke
down along the way and the leader of the
gang named Blackie, called for another
vehicle, a Nissan Primera, which arrived
shortly after.
“But they did not know that we had got
information about them. They were on their
way to the Ornage Waterside when we
intercepted them. As soon as they saw us,
they fled and abandoned the woman in the
car along with one of their rifles,” the source
said.
Few days after the botched kidnapping of
Mrs. Okotie, IRT operatives who were
following up on a lead, arrested Gabriel, a
taxi driver, around 2.pm on October 12.
When Gabriel, an Akwa-Ibom indigene living
at Navy Market Borikiri, Port-Harcourt was
taken in for questioning, he confessed that he
had personally been involved in 15 kidnaps in
the last few months in the state.
He then led the police to his house where five
members of the gang were already planning
another kidnap.
“When we got to his house, we arrested five
of his gang members and from there, we
proceeded to Enugu Waterfront where we
arrested Anikuroka Marshal, the gang’s
armourer. The suspects also identified
Diobele Elijah and Akodi Aselemi as their
spies who go around town scouting for
victims. They confessed to have three AK47
rifles, two pistols, which they use in their
operations,” a police source said.
it was learnt that in one of the kidnaps
carried out by the gang, on August 10, 2016,
a pastor, Mrs. Luis Ubah and one Mr. Chika
Ezenwa were abducted. The same day, the
gang kidnapped a business woman, Mrs.
Ubah in her store, they also grabbed another
victim identified as Ezenwa who was with
Ubah at the time.
The four victims were taken by the gang to
the Indoki Estate Waterfront.
The source explained that while on their way
to the waterfront, the gang encountered a
police team and instantly opened fire on the
policemen.
“Inspector David Ijosi and one Corporal Dike
Ledee were injured by bullets in the attack.
One was hit in the leg while another was hit
in the neck and the kidnappers escaped into
the Isaka creeks in Okrika,” the source said.
Soon after, the gang made contact with
Ubah’s husband, Bishop Prince Ubah, from
whom they demanded a N50m ransom for her
freedom.
During the ensuing negotiation, the ransom
for the release of the bishop’s wife was
reduced to N2.8m and a place was agreed on
for the family to drop the ransom.
But in a dramatic turn of events, when two
brothers of the bishop, Onyeka Ani and
Pastor Okezie Akara, took the money to the
agreed place on August 25, 2016, 15 days
after Mrs. Ubah was kidnapped, the gang
members decided to release her along with
Ezenwa but kidnapped the two brothers
instead.
The police said they then demanded another
N1m ransom from the bishop for his
brothers. But N750, 000 was eventually paid
for their release.
Police investigation also showed that in
August 2016, the gang kidnapped one Nkechi
at YKC Junction in Woji Town, Port Harcourt,
and she was transported to the Woji
Waterfront where they ferried her by
speedboat to Kula community in Akukotoru
Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The woman was reportedly kept in captivity
for two weeks and was released after a
ransom of N2m was paid by her family.
In September, a victim identified as Coachie,
who was abducted around Number One
Stadium, Port Harcourt, was released after a
ransom of N2.5m was paid.
In his statement, Gabriel explained that he
came to Port Harcourt in 2015 and worked as
a taxi driver but when things became difficult
for him, he moved his family back home and
joined his first kidnapping gang.
He said, “I met the members of the gang in
March 2016. I was plying the Aba Road
looking for passengers one day when they
stopped me and entered my taxi. They asked
me to take them to Borikiri in Port Harcourt.
“When we got there, I was surprised that they
paid me more than I demanded and I told
them that I wanted to know more about
them. The leader who sat in front passenger
seat then gave me his phone number and
said he would like me to work with them.
“Few days later, they invited me to a hotel in
Borikiri and told me what they did. In April,
Blackie, the gang leader, called and asked
that I should meet him in his hotel. When I
got there, I met other members of the gang
preparing for an operation. They showed me
two bags containing guns and put it in my
car. I then drove them to GRA in Port
Harcourt.
“When we got there, the gang’s informant
said we had missed the target, a woman, who
had just left the place. While leaving, we saw
a man driving a nice car and we kidnapped
him. He was taken to the Indoki Estate
Waterfront. We put him in a speed boat and
took him to a camp across the river.”
Gabriel said they carried out many
kidnappings and that in August 2016, when
they kidnapped Mrs. Okotie, it was like God
just wanted them to be caught.
According to him, he had no idea what
happened to his car, which he converted from
a taxi cab to the gang’s operational vehicle.
“When we were intercepted by the police that
day, we left one gun in the car while escaping
while Blackie escaped with one other rifle. He
gave it to one of our boys, who normally kept
our rifles. But after I was arrested, I took the
police to the boy and they recovered the rifle
and my cab,” he said.
However, in his confessional statement, Anda,
a speed boat operator, said he got N200,000
each time he ferried the kidnappers and their
victims to their camps across the river in his
speed boat.
The suspect, a Bayelsa State indigene, said
he was involved in pipeline vandalism and oil
theft before the military destroyed the camps
in which they “cook” the oil, referring to the
numerous makeshift oil refineries that dot
creeks where oil militants operate in the
country.
“When I became jobless, my friends invited
me to Port Harcourt to join the kidnapping
business. I became their boat operator. Apart
from the transport duty, I was also in charge
of buying food for the gang members and the
victims. I bought a speed boat with the
money I have made so far,” Anda said.
Marshal (the gang’s armourer) on the other
hand, said he was paid N40,000 per each
operation.
The suspect, who is an indigene of Opobo-
Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State,
said he usually kept the guns in an
abandoned bus parked inside the Baptist
Church field in Borokiri.
“I did not usually go out with them for the
operations. My job is to keep the guns,” he
said.
Another suspect, Elijah, a native of Okrika in
Rivers State, said he was lured to the gang
by his boss, whom he identified as Elvis.
According to him, his role was to assist Elvis
to monitor the movement of their targets.
“There was a time I followed Elvis three times
to spy on a woman we wanted to kidnap. We
could not carry out the operation because
our leader, Blackie did not come on time. I
was also with him in GRA where we
kidnapped the woman who was rescued by
the police. Elvis had only been giving me
little money since I started working with him.
But he loved to buy me a lot of drinks,” he
said.
The police said investigation on the scale of
the operations of the gang was still on and
that they were making efforts to arrest other
members of the gang who are now
underground.
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