New details have emerged on how suspected members of a kidnap gang allegedly abducted the sister of former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Mrs Olaide Busayo Adegoke, and her twin sons in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Sources said the suspects arrested by operatives of the Force Intelligence Department-Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) and other tactical teams of the Oyo State Police Command had played different roles in the operation carried out on June 3.
The suspects arrested include the alleged gang leader, Adewale Abolarinwa, also known as Oloro; Segun Balogun, also known as Alawaye; and Dare Oyedele, popularly known as Solution.
The victims were rescued from their captors den at Lako community on Ayegun-Olomi Road, Ibadan, last Saturday by the order of the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu.
It was learnt that Balogun, who is a commercial driver at Iwo Road Motor Park, Ibadan, confessed that he used his driving skills to convey the gang members during the operation.
He said he had known Oloro through the transport union for over 10 years before he was later approached to join the kidnap plot, according to Nigerian Tribune.
“Oloro asked me if Adelabu still has a mother. I said yes. I told him where she was living and he asked me. “He said I should take him to the place,” Balogun said.
Oloro also said the gang leader told him he was going to kidnap either Adelabu’s mother or a child from the family after he showed Oloro the house.
“The excuse he gave was that he was broke. He asked me if I wanted to join him too, and pointed out that I was also broke and just driving without making much money. He said he would pay good money and I said I would go with him. “My role was to drive the vehicle used in the kidnap operation,” he added.
Balogun said the gang went into action on June 3 after Oloro called him a day before to inform him of the operation.
He said four of them were in the vehicle used for the operation, and added that three others were masked as he drove.
Oloro saw the car that was being targeted and told me to follow and then told me to swerve and block the front of it. “He and two others got out and pushed the mother and the children into our operational car,” he said.
The other suspect, Oyedele, popularly called Solution, was said to be an automobile electrician, who was known around Orita Challenge, Podo and nearby areas of Ibadan.
Police sources said the solution allegedly did surveillance for the gang before the kidnap.
The gang allegedly began plotting the abduction on May 5 by monitoring the compound where the twins lived, the school they attended and the vehicle used to ferry them.
In intercepted communications, Solution is said to have discussed the children’s school as expensive and well equipped, and provided information on the whereabouts and movements of the family.
Solution, who claimed to be 43 and from Ishara Remo in Ogun State, admitted knowing Oloro for about one year.
He said, “Oloro was once a member of the OPC, but was expelled after the kidnap case he had back then. I heard about him through OPC members. He later moved to Lagos, but used to visit Ibadan.”
Oloro later invited him into the gang and told him to follow him around in his car during movements he did not fully understand at first, he said.
He said that on June 2, Oloro drove a Toyota Corolla to his house at Podo, with two pump-action guns inside the vehicle.
“During the operation, three of us, Oloro, Kelechi and I used masks. Alawaye sat in the car and did not wear a mask. Oloro handed me an axe to hold. The two pump-action guns Kelechi and he were holding, Solution said.
He said Oloro was said to have smashed the side glass of the vehicle belonging to the victims before the woman and children were put into the car of the gang.
Balogun first became a suspect when operatives looking for Oloro got in touch with him because of his known relationship with the alleged gang leader, police sources said.
According to reports, he was spotted trying to delete data from his phone while speaking to the agents.
The officers allegedly searched the phone and found messages discussing an alleged gun purchase that involved Oloro.
Balogun was arrested but it was said that Oloro was nabbed before his alleged involvement in the kidnap was fully uncovered.
Police said some suspects were arrested and two others neutralised during the rescue operation.
Further checks reportedly led operatives to Solution’s property where a pump-action gun was allegedly recovered, bringing the total number of guns recovered from the gang to three.
Oloro was also said to have been found with several charms, some of which were said to have been recovered from his car.
Sources said the alleged gang leader had refused to talk since the police briefing by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Ayodeji Abimbola.
Earlier in September 2022, Oloro was paraded by the Oyo State Police Command after his arrest alongside other suspected members of a kidnap gang.
He is said to have admitted involvement in previous kidnapping and car snatching.
He was later arraigned and remanded in prison but it was not clear how he got bail before allegedly returning to crime.
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