…Yet To Be Freed Two Weeks After
There is heightened tension over the safety of a printing press operator simply identified as Darlington who was kidnapped from his office at 54, Azikiwe Street, Mile 2, Diobu Port-Harcourt on 2 November, 2019, National Network has gathered.
This comes as members of the kidnap syndicate are said to be on war path over sharing formula of paid ransom.
A security source privy to the development had informed National Network that trouble started when the family of the victim allegedly paid the ransom demanded by the group a week after the Chief Executive Officer of the printing press was abducted. The source said that a faction of the group who disagreed with another faction on the sharing formula absconded with the money.
Our source revealed that fight broke out when members of the faction who absconded with the money came in contact with the other faction at one of the waterfronts in Diobu. The source said that members of the two groups engaged themselves in battle with the use of machetes, axes and other dangerous weapons.
It was learned that information about members of the gang and the fight that broke out was leaked to the Police.
National Network gathered that Eagle Crack (Commissioner Squad) Police unit located in Mile 1, Diobu, Port Harcourt, trailed the driver of the gang simply identified as Sunny to his residence in Ogbogoro in Obi/Akpor Local Government Area of the state and arrested him. The Police also reportedly impounded four vehicles suspected to have been snatched at gunpoint by members of the syndicate which were seen at the suspect’s hideout.
An inside source informed our reporter that confessions from Sunny and other members of the gang led to the arrest of one ‘Makavelli’, a vigilante member who is also Chief Security Officer of one of the waterfront communities in Mile 1, Diobu. The vigilante member is said to be the chief logistics officer to the kidnap gang and had reportedly provided assistance to the group in many of the operation they had carried out.
An executive member of Diobu Vigilante group who craved for anonymity confirmed the arrest to National Network but declined further comments.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, who is also a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, told our reporter via text messages that he would get back to him.
DSP Omoni was yet to get back to our reporter as at the time of filing this report.
In the meantime, a police source said that the Command had begun investigation into the kidnap with a view to rescuing the victim and arresting fleeing members of the gang.
