It has been a hectic, surprising scenario as a notorious gang of kidnappers who have been targeting wealthy victims have been operating in the Amuwo-Odofin/ Ago-Okota axis of Lagos.
According to information gathered, their areas of operation included Ago Palace Way, Isolo, Okota, Festac, and other environs.
Police sources said they always disappeared through the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, meandered through the ever-busy Second Rainbow Bus stop and Apple Junction, and end up in unknown whereabouts, from where they negotiate the ransom for their victim before relocating out of the city.
The difference in their mode of operation is that apart from being based outside Lagos, they always insist on collecting not less than N1 billion, or their victim will be killed. They also threaten to kill their victims should information about them leak to the police.
The good news at the moment is that the gang met its Waterloo last week in the Ladipo area of Lagos, after the gangsters targeted a very rich international businessman and were on the verge of kidnapping him. Their plot was foiled by eagle-eyed policemen from the Commissioner of Police Special Squad, who confronted and killed nine of them.
Recovered from them were four AK-47 rifles, four locally-made semi-automatic pistols, nine AK47 magazines, three walkie-talkies, one POS machine and a loudspeaker. Two of their operational vehicles, a black Toyota 4Runner and a blue Lexus RX350, were also recovered. However, two of the suspects narrowly escaped by disappearing into the large crowd keenly watching the shootout that ensued between the heavily armed kidnappers and the police.
Police records showed that the gang made up of trigger-happy shooters kidnapped a businessman on April 10, 2023, in the Ikotun area of the state around 4 pm, and the victim paid $8000 as ransom. The gang, kidnapped another businessman on the same date around 11.30 pm at Ago Okota using the same vehicles and later collected a ransom of N5m.
On April 23, 2023, the gang struck again, and this time, they went for a popular millionaire who sold assorted drinks at Ago Okota and kidnapped him. He reportedly paid not less than a billion naira, but the family hid it from the police on account of threats from the kidnappers. The same thing happened to another rich businessman at Ikotun the same day as they were fleeing from the scene with their victim. The businessman was returning from his farm in Ogun State when they accosted and kidnapped him.
They later collected ransom in three tranches of $6000 and $3,600. They wrapped up their operation that day by abducting another businessman a few metres from the same area in Ikotun, and he paid N8m as ransom.
It was also gathered that on August 18, 2023, at Ago Palace Way, members of the gang kidnapped another businessman and collected N120m; the following day, they struck at Gowon Estate, and their victim paid an undisclosed huge amount of money before he was released.
Then, on November 29 2023, around 8.45 pm, they kidnapped another businessman at Apple Junction and collected N6m as ransom. Three days later, they abducted another businessman at Ikotun with the same operational vehicles and collected a ransom of N24m. From there, they moved to Isolo and abducted another victim who reportedly paid a huge amount of money as ransom.
Notably, while they were freely carrying out their operations, the police were on their trail, and all efforts made to round them up failed. However, police sources said they continued to follow up on their trail and discovered that they always carried out operations with a Toyota 4Runner Jeep and a Lexus 350 SUV.
It was also discovered that they always carried out their operations dressed in camouflage military uniform, and once they picked their victims, they took them out of Lagos, and when they wanted to release them after payment of ransom, they dropped them at any point in Ogun State or in some cases at Governor’s Road, Ikotun.
Sources said that this trend continued, and police were oblivious to their operations until an intelligence report informed detectives that the gang that had left Lagos a long time ago was back and was using the same vehicles.
The source said they thought the coast was clear for them to operate after disappearing from Lagos for a long time. Their last criminal rendezvous took place at the ever-busy Ojekunle Street inside Ladipo market, where they had perfected plans to kidnap a very rich businessman in the market with the hope of collecting at least N1b from him.
Our correspondent learned that a friend of the rich businessman was earlier kidnapped, and he paid a huge amount of money. He reportedly confided in his friend that they were also planning to abduct him and their target is N1 billion.
Sources said, as expected, the kidnappers arrived at the scene in their usual vehicles, and on seeing a decoy placed by the detectives, they started shooting frantically, not knowing that the whole area was cordoned off by heavily armed policemen. The first shot they fired, according to sources, made detectives identify them with their vehicles, and a shootout that lasted for over three hours ensued.
During the intensive shooting that reverberated all over the area, nine of the kidnappers were neutralised while two escaped with bullet wounds by disappearing into the crowd. Reports said detectives avoided gunning the fleeing gang members so as not to hit the wrong targets. Bullets from the kidnappers’ weapons hit the engine of one police vehicle and also hit a policeman in the jaw. He had since been treated and discharged.
So far, detectives are on the trail of other fleeing members of the gang, and they have concluded plans to raid their hideouts, including the homes of their dead kingpin, whom information revealed was married to four wives and built mansions for them in one of the states in the South-Eastern part of the country.