By Adeyanju Esther

The Police Command in Delta has arrested three kidnap suspects including a foreigner over kidnapping incidents in the state.

The command‘s spokesman, SP Bright Edafe said to journalists on Thursday in Warri that the suspects were arrested on Saturday and Sunday at their hideouts in Warri.

Edafe said the suspects were arrested by the combined team of police operatives attached to the Orerokpe division, and operatives from the Force Intelligence Unit, Abuja.

Some kidnapping incidents in the Warri axis revealed that it is being carried out by Yakubu Ya’u at Oha and Ughwagba Communities in Okpe Local Government Area.

“The suspect and his gang kidnap unsuspecting residents for ransom.

“On May 11, following combined effort from police operatives of the command and operatives from the Force Intelligence Unit, Abuja on the hideout of the suspect.

“The DPO, Orerokpe division immediately mobilised and led his patrol teams to the suspect’s hideout in Warri, and after a painstaking search, he was arrested,” he said.

Edafe said that preliminary investigation and interrogation of the suspect led to the arrest of two other key members of the gang which included a Cameroon national on Sunday.

He alleged that the suspects were responsible for the several kidnap incidents in Orerokpe, Sapele, Warri, and environs, adding that the victims had equally identified them.

Edafe said the suspects led the police detectives to Ughwagba Community in Okpe Local Government Area, where two Automatic pump action guns, a live Cartridge, and one knife were recovered.

He said that preliminary investigations were ongoing, adding that the command has intensified efforts to arrest the other fleeing members of the gang.

No fewer than three persons have been reportedly killed and over 120 others abducted as notorious bandits attacked Goran Namaye community in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

According to a resident in the area, who gave his name as Abubakar Muhammad, the terrorists invaded the town at about 1:17 am on Thursday, operating from house to house.

He further stated that the kidnapped persons were mainly women and men, adding that the terrorists also killed three people during their operation.

“The whereabouts of many members of the community could not be traced, and it is very clear that we lost three of our men to the tragic operation,” he added.

Speaking further, Muhammad pointed out that the bandits came in large numbers, on motorcycles with sophisticated weapons, and surrounded the community as the people were running helter-skelter to save their lives.

“They took us unaware as the whole people were running helter-skelter without direction, and they started house-to-house operations and chased our people, mainly women, into the forest.”

As of the time of filing this report, the security agencies in the state have not made any official statement regarding the incident.

Man, 37, arrested for tampering with corpse in Ibada. The Police in Ibadan on Wednesday arraigned one Sulaiman Ikudaisi, 37, who allegedly tampered with a corpse.

Ikudaisi, whose address was not provided, is charged with tampering with corpse but he pleaded not guilty before an Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court.

The prosecutor, Insp Toyin Ibrahim, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on May 11 at 3.00 p.m. at Muslim Cemetery, Ibadan.

Ibrahim alleged that the defendant removed some bones from the corpse, in contravention of Section 242(1)(b) of the Criminal Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

The Magistrate, Mrs Kausarat Ayofe, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case until July 16 for hearing.