No fewer than 28 people have been taken into custody by the Ondo State Security Network Agency, also referred to as the Amotekun Corps, for their involvement in various crimes in some parts of the state.
Two secondary school students who were detained for allegedly fabricating their kidnapping and extorting ransom from their mother were among the suspects.
The two female students were in JSS1 and JSS3, respectively, and were 13 and 15 years old, according to the state commander, Adetunji Adeleye, who presented the suspects on Monday at the command centre in Akure, the state’s capital.
According to the commander, the suspects hid somewhere at Oka-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of the state and called their mother, pretending to be kidnappers who abducted them and demanded N100,000.
Adeleye added that, pretending to be kidnappers, the girls called and threatened the monarch of their town to pay the ransom within 24 hours or they would kill the abductees in their custody.
He said, “The 28 suspects we are parading today (Monday) shows that we have more kidnapping than any other criminal activities. This is in continuation of our efforts at ensuring that kidnapping in Ondo State becomes a thing of the past.
“We have people who kidnapped themselves and raised alarm and in our diligent investigations, we were able to unravel the mystery surrounding their disappearance to the extent that they have confessed.”
The Amotekun boss noted that the arrest of the suspects was in collaboration with the operatives of the Department of State Services as the telephone line being used by the girls was tracked to where they were hiding.
Speaking, one of the girls confessed and claimed that her elder sister lured her to the crime.
The 13-year-old girl said, “On that day, my sister and I spent the night in our grandma’s place and left there around 6am the following day.
“While on our way back home, my sister told me that she had a plan to get money from our mother.
“She then revealed her plan to declare ourselves kidnapped and asked for N50,000 each ransom from our mother. It was my sister who taught me what to say when she put a call through to my mother.
“When we called, we didn’t know that it was the monarch that was speaking with us on the telephone when we threatened to kill our victims in captivity if they failed to pay the ransom quickly.”
