Police in Lagos have arrested two top officials of OLX, the online retail-marketing outfit, allegedly used by Mary Akinloye, the notorious nanny who abducted three kids, in Surulere part of Lagos recently.
The kidnap incident which gave operatives of Lagos State Police Command sleepless night especially those of them attached to the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), came to a celebrated climax on Thursday with the arrest of the kidnapper of the four kids of Orekoya family.
The Commissioner of Police (CP) Lagos State Police Command, Kayode Aderanti, had told newsmen that he would order an investigation on OLX. “OLX would be investigated to ascertain their level of involvement. It is paramount now that we have the kidnapper in our net. I would want to know, what role OLX played in this whole saga.”
On Friday, a senior Police officer told our Correspondent that two officials of OLX had been arrested.
OLX is a South African-owned online marketing firm. The company has had it rough in the last few months. Apart from the present kidnapping scandal, the company was recently mentioned in a multimillion Naira scam.
Police also stressed that this was the second time Mary Akinloye would be using OLX platform to carry out illicit business of this nature. “In February, she had posed also as a Nanny and later kidnapped two kids from her employers in the Magodo area of Lagos. She successfully collected ransom for that episode and got away with it. There is a need to check OLX.”
The source also said that OLX officials were arrested at about 10am, following confessional statement by Mary Akinloye, that the Orekoya saga was the second in the series of fraudulent activities she had perpetrated using the online retail-marketing firm.
Meanwhile, the Lagos Police boss has called for enabling law to regulate activities of online marketing in the country. “I think the time has come for our government to create a regulatory body that would supervise the activities of online marketing outfits in the country.”
He added that the said agency and legal instrument would protect consumers, buyers and sellers using online retail shops. “I must say here that, this is a revolution in our country and we must embrace it. But we must also make sure that it does not in any way affect our national integrity and sovereignty.”
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, had said on Thursday that the police have arrested Mary Akinloye, the 23-year-old nanny ( actually 35 years old), who kidnapped three children, belonging to Orekoya family in the Surulere area of Lagos State.
Recall that the three kidnapped children were found in the Shasha area of Lagos State.
