Police foil kidnappers’ attempt to abduct students in Lagos school

By Moses Adeniyi

Abduction of pupils from schools has recently become torrent in various parts of the Country,  with the phenomenon of whisking students away and sometimes alongside their teachers, with ransom being placed on them for their release.

Attempts by some kidnappers to abduct some  pupils of an undisclosed Primary school in Ijegun, a Lagos suburb, was foiled by the Police, with the arrest of a suspected member of the kidnap gang.

A kindergarten and two pupils were rescued in the process.

The kidnappers, as gathered, invaded the school on Monday, March 11, 2024.,  after the closing bell was rung.

Some of them were said to have positioned their operational motorcycles close to the school premises, waiting for other members who went inside to get their targets.

Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hudenyin, who confirmed the arrest, said, “At about 3.30 pm, on March 11, 2024, the  Headmaster of a school situated at Ijegun area of Lagos, reported at Area ‘M’ Command, that some unknown persons invaded the school and abducted three pupils in the school premises.

“Upon the information, detectives swung into action and led a formidable team to the scene of crime.

“Furthermore, the culprits  were given a hot chase, where one Akintola Alima,a 40-year- old woman,  who kidnapped the three pre- nursery children was arrested and the children were rescued.

”However, other unknown suspects escaped with an unregistered motorcycle on sighting the Police.”

The rescued pupils whose identities were given as Sofiat, four years old;Israel, five years old and  Mustapher, six years old, according to Hundeyin, had   reunited with their families.

He said that the suspect was in Police custody, adding  that “investigation revealed that  she abducted the children for criminal purposes and she had a standby motorcycle now at large ,which was waiting for her to escape with the children before she was apprehended. Investigation is still ongoing.”

Abduction of students in schools has become torrent in the Country. No fewer than 465 pupils, teachers, and women abducted in the past week are still in the custody of their captors.

Fifteen pupils of an Islamiya school in Sokoto State were kidnapped in the early hours of Saturday, less than 72 hours after 287 schoolchildren and teachers were abducted from the LEA primary school and the Government Secondary School both at Kuriga, in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Recently, 14 States of the Federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, were said to be at risk of attacks by insurgents and bandits targeted at schools.

The warning is coming as the torrent resurgence of the mass abduction of pupils recurs in the Country.