The police have confirmed the arrest of eight suspected kidnappers and twenty-three others for various crimes at different locations in Oyo State.
Parading the suspects before the newsmen in Ibadan over the weekend, the State Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat, who spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, disclosed that six of the suspected kidnappers are allegedly responsible for the kidnapping of a petrol dealer (name withheld) at a popular filling station in Oyo town.
According to the police report, the suspects dispossessed the victim of his valuables, including a mobile telephone handset, an undisclosed amount of cash, and other items.
The suspects whisked the victim to an unknown destination but later established a link with his relatives.
The police report added that it was during the negotiation for the payment of ransom that the police crack team swooped in on them.
Six members of the gang were arrested, while the search is still on for the others.
In another incident, two suspected kidnappers were arrested after the payment of N6 million by the relatives of the victim at Ilora.
The victim, according to the reports, was caught while making a demand for a fresh payment of N100,000.
In another development, a 3-man gang syndicate that specialises in hijacking and diverting trailer loads of goods has been arrested.
They were caught with one hundred and three (103) rolls of imported rugs valued at about five hundred and fifty million (N550,000,000.00).
The suspect, according to the reports, confessed that the trailer conveying the goods was hijacked along the Ibadan/Lagos expressway.
Giving a summary of the arrests, the Commissioner of Police said 31 suspects were arrested, and the recovered items include four vehicles, one DAF truck, two tricycles, seven motorcycles, five cell phones, and one hundred and three imported rugs.
