The Oyo State Police Command on Monday paraded a 37-year-old kidnapper, Olarinde Adekunle, over a threat to abduct three students of a private university in Oyo through a letter.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, who paraded the suspect at the State Police Command, said the threat, as expected, disrupted academic activities within the university, stirring up panic and uncertainty among the university community.
The PPRO said, basking under the euphoria of what he presumed was a successful scheme, and blinded with greed, the suspect decided to extend a similar notification to a branch office of a new Generation bank within Owode Area, in Oyo, with the intention of invading it later.
He said, “A notorious kidnapping syndicate sent a ‘hand-written’ note to the management of a private university institution, in Oyo town wherein they threatened to abduct three of its students should the management fail to pay up (N10,000,000) ten million naira within a stipulated period.
“Consequent upon the above, discreet forensic based investigations were carried out and this led to the arrest of one Azeez Mufutau ‘M’ whose phone numbers were inscribed on the ‘hand-written notes’ sent to both the school management and the bank.
“Upon questioning, the suspect confirmed that the phone number on the note was his but denied being the author of the document.
“The investigation further led to the arrest of one Olarinde Adekunle ‘M’ age 37 who confessed to being the author ofthe hand-written notes under scrutiny and added that Azeez Mufutau was used as a decoy for the purpose of concealing his direct involvement.”