Police in Ogun State have arrested a housewife, Memunat Salaudeen, for allegedly conniving with three others to kidnap her husband for ransom.
Police spokesman in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abeokuta that the suspects were arrested on Monday on Papa/Itori Road.
They were arrested during a stop-and-search operation by a Federal Highway patrol team, led by Insp. Sunday Imohiosen.
DSP Oyeyemi said the patrol team accosted the trio of Olayinka Lawal, Asungba Nura and Usman Oluwatoyin, while on a motorcycle and stopped them for a search because their looks aroused suspicion.
He explained that while searching the suspects, a cutlass and a new strong rope were recovered from them.
He added that the team quickly separated them and questioned them individually about their mission in the area.
The police spokesman said that the three suspects gave different answers to the questions asked, which he said further aroused the suspicion of the policemen.
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“In the course of interrogation, the three of them confessed that it was one woman, who was later identified as Memunat that gave them N8, 000 to buy a cutlass and a rope strong enough to tie a human being.
“They confessed that the woman who is a nurse at Ifo, also in Ogun State, asked them to hide somewhere on the road.
“The woman promised to lure her husband to the hideout where they would kidnap him and tie him with the rope and then ask for ransom.
“They further told the police that the woman said that the only way she could get money from her husband, whom she accused of being very stingy in spite of the fact that he has money was to kidnap him.
“The suspects were on their way to kidnap the man before they were arrested,’’ DSP Oyeyemi said.
He said the woman was subsequently brought to the scene and on seeing the suspects, she admitted being the brain behind the scheme.
The police spokesman added that the woman told the police that her husband had not been given her money in a long while and that was why she decided to kidnap him to get money from him at all costs.
Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Lanre Bankole, ordered the transfer of the suspects to the anti-kidnapping unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for investigation.
(NAN)
