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Ex-bank driver narrates how he masterminded kidnap of three former colleagues for N50m

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A former driver at a bank located in Warri, Delta State and his gang members have been arrested by the state’s police command for allegedly masterminding the kidnap of three managers of the bank in the state.

The suspect, Owes Okpaka, was also said to have gotten a share of N15 million from a combined sum of N50 million ransoms paid for the release of the three managers. The bank managers were simply identified as Mr Imani, Mrs Isioma and Mrs Zowa.

Okpaka was said to have provided the gang with information leading to the separate abduction of the managers between October 2020 and February 2021.

The other members of Okpaka’s gang who were also arrested were, Lawrence Egagah, Victor Dominic, Usobotie Sylvester and Alex Okon.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Imani, the manager of the bank’s branch at Urhobo College in Warri, was abducted on his way home on October 5, 2020, and a N15 million ransom was paid for his release.

READ ALSO: Again, El-Rufai vows never to pay ransom to bandits, not even if his son is kidnapped

Then the gang kidnapped Zowa, the manager at the bank’s branch at Ogonu in Warri and Isioma, the manager of the Effurun branch, and reportedly collected N35 million ransoms.

It was learnt that operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team went after the gang following a petition to the police, and arrested Okpaka, who led detectives to apprehend other four members after investigations were carried out.

Okpaka, a native of the Ubogo Community in the Udu Local Government Area of Delta State disclosed that he got N2.5 million each on the first two abductions and N10 million in the last operation.

His words: “I was working at the Ogonu branch of the bank as a driver, but I resigned in January 2021. I was arrested because I masterminded the kidnappings of three colleagues. I brought the three kidnapping jobs that involved the bank managers. I monitored their movements and gave out their locations to my gang members.

“The third kidnapping was that of Mrs Isioma. Victor kept her in his house and I was part of the ransom negotiation. They paid N20m and I got N10m as my share. I used my Toyota Corolla car to pick up the ransom. It was the last kidnapping I did before I was arrested.”

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