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.
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.
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.
