Soldier, Engineer Nabbed for Kidnapping in Bayelsa

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

The police in Bayelsa State saturday paraded a serving military officer and an engineer for kidnapping a lady and holding her hostage in a hotel in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Lance Corporal Williams Zekena of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Barracks, Kaduna State, and an Engineer, Tom Yakubu, working with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Special Projects, reportedly demanded N24 million as ransom before releasing their victim.

The Police said the suspects abducted one Beauty Aya, aged 25, from Warri, Delta State and took her to Bayelsa, but the girl’s boyfriend was only able to pay N200,000.

The State Commissioner of Police, Amba Asuquo, said Zekena and Yakubu, who claimed to be a contractor with the ministry, took the woman to a hideout in Azikoro Village in Yenagoa.

According to Asuquo, the suspects later reduced the ransom to N11 million, but were only able to get an initial N200,000 before luck ran out on them.

Yakubu, in a chat, confessed to the crime, stressing that while he hails from Jos,  his accomplice is a native of Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa state.

Similarly, the command has arrested an ex- soldier, Okechukwu Umeokoro with a military pistol along Zarama road in the East/West road during a stop and search operation.

Umeokoro, who hails from Anambra, the Police said, was voluntarily discharged from the Nigeria Army and was attached to 3 Battalion, Warri Delta state, at the time. The suspect said he got the pistol during one of his military operations in Sudan and had been using it for several illegal operations.

The police boss, during the parade of the suspect at the police headquarters in Yenagoa, said during the search, a military identification card, a hand grenade, one handcuff and five rounds of live 9mm ammunitions were also recovered from the suspect.

He added that the command had benefitted tremendously from the community involvement in crime fighting, through active participation as neighbourhood watchers and vigilante groups.

He said the command had resolved to work closely with traditional institutions, security stakeholders and non-governmental organisations to make the state safe. The commissioner also advised sister security agencies to ensure that any dismissed officer does not go away with weapons.