Pastor in police net for kidnapping dispatch rider to source money for sallah

A pastor, Adetokunboh Adelopo has been arrested by the police for allegedly kidnapping and detaining a dispatch rider, Job Ekpo, in an underground hole inside his Church.

The 52-year-old Adelopo, who is the General Overseer of New Life Church of God, Sagamu, Ogun State, was arrested at Lokosi area of Sagamu on July 17, 2020.

He was paraded alongside others on Wednesday by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba at the office of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team in Abuja.

Adelopo, while speaking with journalists, said he had spent over 20 years in the ministry.

He said: “I was ordained as a pastor by Bishop Abayomi in Ibadan in 2014. We do a lot of charity in my church and during this COVID-19 pandemic period, I didn’t have anything in my account and people were still coming for help.

“We needed money to buy foodstuffs and ram for this Sallah and that was why I decided to source money from these companies by kidnapping their staff.”

Read also: Police arrests pastor for allegedly defiling 10-year-old girl in Ogun

While narrating his ordeal, the kidnap victim, Ekpo said he spent 10 days in captivity inside an underground hole, which they called ‘Special Guest House’ where he was only fed with garri, sugar and beans.

He said: “When I got to the church to deliver the items, they put a rope around my neck from the back and I started struggling to free myself from the rope.

“When they finally brought me down, the pastor injected me and that was the only thing I remember.

“They were feeding me with garri, sugar, beans, coke and water. I spent about nine days in that hole and was rescued by the police on the 10th day. I have never experienced such a thing like that before.”

According to Mba, four AK-47 riffles, 361 rounds of AK-47 live ammunition, five other weapons and one anti-tracking device were recovered from the suspects.

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