Police authority in Lagos said that so far, several individuals from diverse vocations have been arrested and quizzed in connection with the recent celebrated incident of kidnapping of three children of the Orekoya family, with a hint that more arrests would be made as investigation is still ongoing.
Giving an update on the incident to our Correspondent, the Commissioner of Police (CP) Lagos State Police Command, Kayode Aderanti, disclosed that even with all the arrests, two principal suspects in the case, were still on the run.
According to him, “the nanny kidnapper’s husband and her brother in-law are still on the run. But we are not resting the matter at all. In fact we have our search party out there looking for them. But several people have been arrested in connection with the matter so far.”
The State Police boss added that some of the people arrested have either been questioned and granted bail or held unto for further questioning. “Some were just quizzed, while a good number of them under-went thorough investigation and are still being investigated.”
Asked to mention one or two names the Police have arrested or are investigating in connection with the matter, the Police boss said, “I cannot remember all of them here, except I call for the case-file. But I can remember one Isaac Olamilekan and Peters Ekema or something like that. Like I said, if I call for the case-file I should be able to give you all the names of persons arrested so far. Let me say this, the arrest shall continue until we get exactly those we want.”
Recall that Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, had earlier announced the arrest of Mary Akinloye, the 23-year-old nanny, who kidnapped three children in the Surulere area of Lagos State recently.
According to him, using the best technology in town, the police had tracked the phone calls between the kids’ family and their abductors and narrowed it down to Shasha area. The heat was on them, the abductors knew the police were on their trail so they abandoned the kids in their den. The police were able to locate the house and rescued the kids. When he was asked if the ransom was paid, the CP said no. In his words, : “Along the way, we have been tracking the phone number and we traced the number to Shasha area of Lagos state. The heat was on and the kidnappers knew we were on their trail. We used the best technology to get the location.
“They had to abandon the kids and ran away. No ransom was paid because we don’t encourage ransoms being paid in such situation. When you are employing people you don’t know, please run a detailed background check on the person and let the police be aware.”
The CP who narrated some previous related happenings said that most elite in Nigeria employ people they don’t know and it is very disturbing! It gathered that the suspect has confessed to be responsible for the kidnapping of two kids also in Magodo, a Lagos highbrow residential area, in February this year. Police source said ransom was paid to her in that kidnapped.
“She used to stay on the Lagos Island before, but when she made that money from the Magodo, kidnap, she relocated to Shasha area of Lagos. She also bought a car from the proceed of the kidnapping.”
Meanwhile, Mary Akinloye, the prime suspect in the case, is still in detention as Police investigation continues. Police source said, she has told whoever cares to listen that, she is ashamed of herself, “I don’t want to go back to my house again, because I would not be able to live among people within my community, they would be afraid of me. They have already branded me a criminal and I won’t blame them, it is my fault.”
