May 14, 2021

Police operatives in Benue State have arrested eight suspected kidnappers and recovered the bodies of four victims.

Anene Catherine, the Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the arrest of the suspects in a statement on Thursday.

She explained that the suspects were part of a 10-man gang of kidnappers who escaped from the Sankara area of the state.

According to the command’s spokesperson, police detectives trailed the fleeing persons and arrested eight of them in Osun State, and brought them back to Benue for further investigation.

She noted that the suspects, on Monday, opted to lead police detectives to Tavachan forest in Mbamon in Kastina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue where they buried their slain victims.

Upon arriving at the scene, Catherine disclosed that a deep well and a shallow grave were found in the forest with decomposed bodies of the suspects’ victims.

“Suspects confessed that some of the victims died due to inability to survive the trauma of being held hostage while others were killed for not paying the required ransom.

“Two of the suspects also confessed to have killed their wives for making attempt to expose their nefarious acts. Four corpses were exhumed for autopsy while an investigation into the case is ongoing to enable the arrest of suspects at large and unravel more facts about the case,” said the command’s spokesperson.

She noted that the police have continued to gain victory over banditry in the state, particularly the Sankara axis.

Within the last two weeks, Catherine stated that operatives deployed in Sankara dislodged bandits’ camps and recovered arms and ammunition.

She added that the suspects have been arrested and charged to court while normalcy has been restored in various markets within the area.