By: Titus Oise, Benin.

Officers of the Edo State Police Command have recovered 2 corpses from the forests along the Benin- Lagos Expressway, who were reportedly kidnapped last month in  Ekiadolor.

The recovery followed the arrest of one of the kidnappers, a member of a 7-man syndicate who operates along the Benin-Lagos and Benin-Akure expressways, by the Violent Crime Response Unit VCRU that engaged them in a gun battle in the forest.

The State commander of VCRU, CSP Osagie Godspower, led journalists and health officials into the forest where the corpses were recovered.

According to one of the victims, whose mother was among those killed,  the kidnappers struck their home in Iyowa community, Ekiadolor, abducting her, her Mother, and the maid staying with them.

She narrated that 3 more families were later abducted and brought to join them in the forest, making a total of 4 families.

She explained that they were made to trek through the forest at Night while resting during the day.

According to her, “we were here at this spot for 2 days. When they asked my mother her age, she responded 66. They asked another woman, and she said 45, and one small boy, who was 15 years old. We initially thought they were going to let those go because of their age, but later in the evening, they took them down this way, and after some arguments, they shot the other woman on the shoulder, and the bullet also hit my mom.

“The other woman went quiet immediately, but my mom was still talking. I could hear her praying, and later she began breathing heavily, then stopped. After about 5 minutes, they took us to another location where they also shot the boy through the shoulder, and he died.”

The victim noted that her family later paid eleven Million Naira and brought other items, while other families also paid ransom before they were all released.

On her part, the police Public Relations officer,  ASP Eno Ikoedem, explained that “we had a major first breakthrough in this case on the 19th of May, when operatives of the VCRU sighted four of the syndicate in the forest and engaged them in a gun battle with many of them escaping with gunshot injuries. We had another breakthrough days after following their trail when we arrested a 24-year-old Haruna while he was trying to seek treatment for his gunshot wound, and have since confessed to the crime, and he led us here to recover the 2 bodies, as well as the body of the 15-year-old boy, which we had evacuated earlier.

“We are still on the trail of the rest, and we are confident that in no time the Violent Crime Response Unit will round up the remaining members of this kidnapping syndicate.”

Meanwhile,  the suspect, a 24-year-old Haruna Musa, confessed to being a member of the 7-man syndicate after a brief work controlling cattle in Ogun State Last year.

According to him, “me na cattle I dey control, the Salah when past, no be this one the other one, one of my brothers call me make I come control cow for Ogun State, but no be Fulani get am, na ordinary person get am when Dem wan take do Salah. As Dem sell the cow finish for Salah, that my brother come say make I come say another work dey. Na so we take come here when I see say na this kind work. I fear say if I tell Dem say I no dey do that time, them go kill me, so I no get choice than to follow them.”