By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Edo Commissioner of Police, Mr Funsho Adegboye has raised an alarm over the increasing involvement of local residents in cases of kidnapping in the state.
Adegboye said this on Tuesday in Benin, while briefing newsmen on the command’s activities to combat crime in the state.
He noted that kidnapping by herdsmen have somewhat reduced, adding that more locals were now being arrested for kidnapping in the state.
He said: “From our recent experiences, from the victims we have liberated and debriefed, we have discovered that most of the kidnappers now, are not those we usually call herdsmen.
” The locals are getting seriously involved in kidnapping.
“Before, if you ask the victims of kidnapping, they will say ‘herdsmen’. The involvement of the so-called herdsmen is now very minimal.
“Somebody was arrested in Edo North, when he was brought here, their group leader and others came here and vouched for him.
“But, fortunately, investigation confirmed 100 percent that he kidnapped a woman and collected money. The people were ashamed for vouching for him.
“Also, of recent, this one happened around town here, a 23-year-old man kidnapped a five-year-old girl, kept her in his room for several days, collected N250,000 ransom from the parents, while the poor girl was in his room.
“We deployed all our technical arsenal and we were able to get him arrested. He confessed to the heinous crime and he has been charged to court. It was a pathetic situation,” he said.
The CP, however called on members of the public to be more vigilant, adding that with the security situation in the country, everybody was a suspect.