By Emma Amaize, Regional
Editor, South-South
KIDNAPPING (read man-
stealing) has
metamorphosed into such a
very big industry in Delta
State that it currently has a
loose association,
comprising graduates and
undergraduates with an
organized set-up and
leadership.
Our investigations showed
that it is no longer a case of
the money-making
kidnappers abducting and
looking for where to hide
their captives from security
agents. There are four major
departments in the industry.
The first is the abduction
squad, which kidnaps
victims. The second is the
transportation/receiver unit,
which is in-charge of
shepherding the victims to
secret locations and keeping
them in hideouts.
The third group is the
negotiation department,
which negotiates ransom
with relations of victims and
others; the fourth is the
security department. The
duty of the fourth group is
to provide round-the-clock
security in the dens and
other hideaways where
victims are kept until
ransom is paid for their
release. All these groups are
armed.
An insider confided in
Sunday Vanguard that the
kingpin of the kidnapping
syndicate at the moment in
Delta State is one Kelvin from
Kokori, Ethiope-East Local
Government Area.
Delta State Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba,
confirmed the restricted
information in an interview
in Asaba on Tuesday, saying,
"Kelvin is the most
dangerous kidnapper in
Delta State and we are
looking for him".
Aduba said Kelvin was
training kidnappers and was
recruiting graduates and
undergraduates, as well as
Okada (motorcycle) riders
into his underworld team.
The commissioner asserted
that the kingpin has so
many kidnap gangs and the
police have been finding it
difficult to track him, while
practically all Okada men in
that axis are his informants.
Kidnap-syndicate
It was alleged that Kelvin's
parents know about the
involvement of their son in
kidnapping , as they reside in
the same neighbourhood,
but, because of the modus
operandi and influence of
the syndicate, it has been
very difficult for the police to
make a breakthrough, as
information always leaked
information on imminent
crackdown to him.
Kidnapping nerve center
Our findings corroborated by
a dependable source
showed that the operational
headquarters of the
kidnapping industry in the
state now is Kokori. Victims
abducted from several parts
of the state are whisked
there for the next stage of
the business.
Other alleged hot dens of
kidnappers are Ekampreme,
Agbarho and Ovwian, all in
the Delta Central Senatorial
District. The presence of the
former chair of the defunct
Delta Waterways Security
Committee, DWSC, Warri, Chief
Ayiri Emami, at Ubeji area is
scaring kidnappers from
using Jeddo as an
operational base.
How it started
Kidnapping as an industry is
a new development in the
state. As a weapon in the
Niger-Delta struggle, it was
introduced by militants, who
kidnapped foreign nationals
to draw attention to the
plight of the people of the
region. It was supported
because the purpose was
not self-centered.
Unfortunately, some
criminals in the struggle
veered into commercial
kidnapping, that is
kidnapping for money.
They kidnapped both
expatriates and blacks,
including politicians and the
affluent. People did not raise
eyebrows, as they even said
it was good for the victims.
Now, kidnappers not only
seize footballers, judges,
teachers, lawyers, journalists,
they abduct children for
ransom.
MD Abubakar, Police IG
MD Abubakar, Police IG
One of the governors, who
saw the dangerous trend
early in the day was Dr.
Emmanuel Uduaghan. He
quickly set up the defunct
DWSC on assumption of
office to tackle the menace,
which was principally
committed on the
waterways. However, the
kidnappers shifted base
from the creek to land, which
is outside the mandate of the
committee. The DWSC was
quietly dissolved and a joint
force of soldiers, police, navy
and other security services,
put in place to battle
kidnappers on land.
The battle has not been easy,
as the kidnappers
developped sophisticated
ways of carrying out their
operations whenever
security operatives inched
closer. This, probably,
explains why the police have
not been able to catch Kelvin,
the alleged most dangerous
kidnapper in the state, even
when they know his base to
be Kokori.
Top officials
Some top officials, within
and outside government, are
said to be involved in the
kidnapping industry because
they make money from it.
These persons have their
gangs and act as
intermediaries between
government and kidnappers
when the demand for
ransom is placed. Politicians
even use kidnappers against
themselves. The officials
involved will not want the
industry to fold up because it
is their major source of
income. What goes for them
is that because of their
status in the society, people
do not easily suspect that it
is their line of business and
they get patronage from
government unsuspectingly.
They join in the search for
kidnappers whenever they
are invited, but they know
what they are benefitting.
Smaller gangs
Besides Kelvin, there are
smaller gangs of kidnappers
scattered in Delta, but they
are not structured.
Sometimes, one or two bad
boys agree to kidnap one or
two persons and make
money and they put their
plan into action.
There is also a kidnap gang
in the state suspected to be
led by the younger brother
of an ex-militant leader shot
dead by the Joint Task Force
in Bayelsa State, in the first
quarter of this year. The
gang is still operates on the
waterways of the state and
was alleged to have
kidnapped the two Lebanese
workers of Setraco
Construction Company,
recently, at Gbaregolor in
Ughelli South Local
Government Area.
Up till date, the gang that
kidnapped the Commissioner
for Higher Education,
Professor Hope Eghagha, and
kept him for up to three
weeks in their custody after
killing his police orderly and
injuring his driver, has not
been identified, but it is
believed to be led by one
Bukumo and David.
Kidnap leaders in detention
However, the police have
arrested some of those who
initiated profit-making
kidnapping on land in Delta.
A number of them are
currently on remand in the
prisons for different
offences. What is happening,
nevertheless, is that that
while they are incarcerated,
their boys are carrying on,
and under a new structure
with Kelvin as godfather.
One of those detained,
according to sources, is
Rufus, alias Infinity. He is in
detention in the Federal
Prisons, Okere, near Warri,
and was alleged to be the
leader of the kidnap gang
that struck in Kaduna, Abuja,
Kogi and other states. The
gang whisked their victims
to Delta State and hid them
in a privately owned hotel,
from where they called their
families, demanded and
obtained ransoms in naira
and dollars.
That time, they kidnapped
outside the state and
brought their victims to the
state for ransom. Infinity's
boys are believed to be still
intact and carrying on with
the business even though
he is in detention.
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