Kidnapping Suspects,13 Others Arrested by Police

The Cross River State Police Command monday at its headquarters at Diamond Hill, Calabar, paraded two brothers suspected to be kidnappers. The police also paraded 13 other persons arrested for allegedly committing various offences. Addressing journalists before the suspects were paraded, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jimoh Ozi Obeh, said the kidnapping suspects Patrick Etok and Richard Etok, are biological brothers. The commissioner said they were arrested for attempting to kidnap one Okon John, said to be Managing Director of Peace Garden Hotel in Calabar.

He said the two brothers were arrested after the police received a distress call which alerted them of the attempt to kidnap the hotelier. The commissioner said the other suspects were arrested on different days, at different spots for allegedly committing various offences bordering on armed robbery and kidnapping. He said 15 live ammunition, 10 rounds of .9mm live ammunition, six locally-made pistols, and four live cartridges were found with them. The commissioner said some other suspected criminals linked to the arrested ones were on the run, and would soon be arrested. “Efforts to arrest the rest of the suspect are being intensified. The command will leave no stone unturned in her effort towards riding the state of the activities of miscreants,” the commissioner said.

He vowed that the police would do everything in its power to curb crime in the state and arrest other criminals that were still in hiding. Warning criminals on the likely consequences that awaits them, the commissioner said: “I, therefore, want to use this medium to warn all criminals and perpetrators of heinous crimes to stay clear as they will not be speared.”