Teenage kidnappers on the rampage
• Abduct 9-yr-old pupil from Lagos, police catch them in Anambra
From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Wednesday, November 11, 2009


• Onovo
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Kidnapping for ransom which has reached alarming stage in the South-East took a dangerous dimension recently with the emergence of teenage kidnappers in Anambra State.
[b]The teenagers between the ages of 16 and 14 have successfully carried out kidnap operations in Anambra State and beyond.

Recently, the police in Anambra State acting on a tip-off busted the camp of the teenage kidnappers and apprehended Innocent Arinze, 16, and Emeka Sunday, 14, and rescuing their victim also a teenager.
According to the state Police Commissioner, Mr Philemon Leha, who paraded the duo with some other criminals at the state command headquarters, Awka, Arinze who lives in, Yaba, Lagos is a native of Ozonta in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State while his accomplice, Sunday hails from Okwe in Asaba, Delta State.

The [/b] two teenagers were said to have kidnapped their victim, nine-year-old Miss Uju Victoria Nwokorie while she was returning from school in Lagos and brought her to their hideout at Irugbuo village, Awkuzu in Oyi Local Government of Anambra State.
The teenage kidnappers had kept their victim for two days at the hideout and had begun negotiation with her family before police closed up on them.
At the point of arrest, they were picked with one adult, Innocent Okafor, who the police said hails from Dusogu village, Awkuzu; and they all confessed to the crime.

One of the teenage kidnappers, Sunday told newsmen that he was lured into the crime by Arinze who he said used to be an apprentice to Mr Chris Nwokorie, the victim’s father.
It could be recalled that few months ago, police arrested two female teenagers who abducted a little child coming back from school in Onitsha, and were on their way to deliver the child to their master when the bubble busted. The girls were aged between eight and 11 years.
Meanwhile, the Anambra Police Command has continued to clamp down on criminals with Police Commissioner Leha saying that a 45-years-old arm supplier has been arrested.

“Based on a tip-off, SARS operatives raided an uncompleted building at Umudioka village, Awka, where one Peter Obiakor ‘m’, aged 45 years of No. 22 Anieke Obiakor lane Awka was arrested.
“Suspect is said to be source of weapons to criminals which they use in carrying out their nefarious activities. Two live cartridges, two newly constructed bud, some newly constructed gun triggers, nine long and short pipes for gun construction, one filling machine, one saw-blade and a book titled “Gun Traders Guide” were received from the suspect.”

Leha said that one of the suspects who gave his name as Maxwell Chukwunonso Umunakwe and his five-man gang on September 27, 2009 kidnapped 70-year-old Deaconess Agnes Egesimba in her residence at Uruogwe Village in Mbaitolu Local government of Imo State.
The suspect, he said, was sighted at a shopping complex along Owerri Road, Onitsha by the son of the kidnapped Deaconess who reported to the police and he was trailed and arrested immediately.
Deaconess Egesimba was said to have been abandoned on the road at Amandugba in Isu Local Government Area of Imo State after two members of the gang were arrested.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/nov/11/national-11-11-2009-00-15.htm

The South-East region is gradually becoming the serìous contender 4the kidnap-for-ransome title in the country.

Federal deputy director, driver kidnapped in Edo - No trace of kidnapped Niger perm sec
Uchechukwu Olisah and Dipo Olaleye - 11.11.2009

A Deputy Director in the Federal Department of Livestock and Pest Control Services of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources was reportedly kidnapped along with his driver on Monday on their way to Benin City, the Edo state capital, for an official assignment.


The Deputy Director, a level 16 officer simply identified as Abubakar, was said to be coming to Benin City to represent the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources at the annual conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria holding in the Edo state capital when he was abducted with his driver by unknown gunmen.


Abubakar who was coming to Benin City in a Hilux Jeep with an undisclosed Federal government registration number had a lunch with his driver at Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, where he last spoke with his Field Office in the Edo state, informing them that he was on his way to the city.


Nigerian Tribune gathered that Abubakar later in the day informed the Benin Office that he was being held somewhere in Benin City by gunmen, who he said, kidnapped him between Auchi and Ekpoma in Edo state.


Meanwhile, three days after he was kidnapped on his way to Minna, there has been no news of the permanent secretary in the Niger State Ministry of Youth and Strategy, Alhaji Adamu Umar.


Umar was kidnapped by unknown persons on the Minna –Suleja road while returning from Zaria where he had gone for a contact session at the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaira.