A suspected kidnap kingpin, Samuel Chukwudi, otherwise known as Dede, whose gang had been terrorizing Anambra State and its environs for a long period now has opened up to the police on how they intimidate their victims before extorting huge sums of money from them. Read more
Chukwudi and his gang were even said to have been collecting ransom from their victims as many times as they wanted, depending on their perceived financial worth.
On two occasions, Sunday Sun was told “Chukwudi’s gang collected N50 million three times and at another, N11 million thrice”, from their victims’ families.
The suspect told Sunday Sun that it was his gang that kidnapped Mr Gozie Akudolu, a.k.a. Iroko, Chairman of Nnewi Motor Spare Parts Dealers Association.
According to him, “we collected N11 million three times from his family. Two weeks later, a gang member demanded that we should release him but I refused, with the intention to collect more money from his family. This caused a quarrel among our gang, prompting me to take the victim to another camp. From the camp, I was requesting for my own ransom but the deal didn’t scale through.
“I have been involved in several kidnappings in Anambra State. I am a native of Ifite-Aguleri in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State. My major role in any operation was to use my motorcycle to carry my gang members to monitor the area that we keep kidnap victims.”
Chukwudi explained that he was arrested as his gang came for another operation in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State, when policemen swooped on them.
Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ballah Nasarawa told Sunday Sun that Chukwudi a.k.a. Dede had been involved in various kidnapping operations in the state.
He said he and his gang were involved in the kidnap of the traditional prime minister of Enugu-Ukwu from whom they collected a ransom of N50 million which was paid to the kidnappers three times before he was released.
Nasarawa said the gang also kidnapped another businessman in Awka and confirmed that they also kidnapped Mr Gozie Akudolu, a.k.a. Iroko, the chairman of the motor spare parts dealers in Nnewi, on October 24, 2012. He said the gang abandoned their victim and went back to Lagos and for weeks, switched off their phones only to come back to collect a hefty ransom of N11 million thrice. He disclosed that it was in the process of sharing their loot that a quarrel ensued among the kidnap gang, prompting the other group to move their victim to another den of kidnappers.
CP Nasarawa added that it was then that he ordered the Commander of SARS, James Nwafor (CSP) with his team to search for the victim in every cranny of the state. The search, he said, paid off when suddenly on December 3, 2012 one of the gang leaders dumped the victim in front of SARS office in Awka and told him to report himself to the office.
The SARS commander said the same gang kidnapped a lady and made several attempts to rape her but later released her but not until the family of the victim had paid a N1million ransom.
Nwafor explained that when the information got to them that the gang was coming to Onitsha to kidnap other people, the police swung into action and arrested them, adding that they had since confessed to the various crimes.
He said “when the other kidnappers told Samuel Chukwudi to release Akudolu , the chairman of the motor spare parts dealers in Nnewi, he refused and took him away to another camp where he too was waiting for his own ransom of a million naira before the other gang of kidnappers came to their camp and took him away and dropped him in front of SARS office and told the victim to come to us and inform us that he has been released.”
From Ngozi Uwujare
CULLED FROM THE SUN NEWSPAPER
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