The Cross River State Police Command on Tuesday in Calabr announced that it has arrested one suspected kidnapper and rescued their victim one Godwin Oduma. According to the police, Oduma was kidnapped at his No.14 Nyong Edem Street residence in Calabar at about 8pm on Monday. The State Commissioner of Police,Jimoh Ozi Obeh, who confirmed the arrest of the suspected kidnapper, said he was arrested when the police stromed their hideout in Calabar.
He said others members of the gang escaped when men of the police made to arrest them. The commissioner said the rescued victim’s Pathfinder Jeep which the kidnappers snatched has not yet been recovered. “There is a massive stop and search going on to recover the Jeep and get other members of the gang arrested,” the commissioner said.
Narating his ordeal to journalists ,Oduma said: “I was kidnapped in the guise of an arrest. They first pretended as if they were taking me to the State CID, but after sometime, they pretended again as if they were taking me to the Airport Police Station. On reaching the Airport Police Station, they sped off and took me straight to Goodluck Jonathan by-pass, just after Federal Government Girls’ College where we disembarked. “There is a footpath on your right that leads to a river close to where we disembarked.
There, I met another six other kidnappers waiting for us with a speed boat. “It was at that point that I was blindfolded and taken to a marshy swampy island where they built a shanty house that they use for their trade.” Oduma stated that it was while in their captivity that the police,obviously acting on a tip-off, swooped on the kidnappers and arrested one of them arrested while other members of the gang escaped.
