…after collecting N650,000 as ransom
The body of a 54-year-old woman killed by kidnappers has been found buried in a shallow grave along Benin-Agbor-Onitsha expressway in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta state.
The lady identified as Mrs. Philomina Ogadi hails from Otolokpo in Ika Northeast Local Government Area of Delta State was abducted last week by a nine man gang of kidnappers including her neighbours.
One of the abductors who is now in police custody led the state deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Operations Faleye Olayele and other police officers to the scene where the body of the victim was exhumed by officers of the Delta state Police Command and taken to the mortuary.
Briefing journalists at the state police headquarters in Asaba, the state commissioner of Police Mr. Ari Mohammed Ali, said the woman was declared missing by her son, which made the state police command to commence investigation.
He said her body was exhumed blind-folded, with gunshot injuries on her head, despite ransom paid to her abductors.
He assured that the police will unravel the circumstances behind the murder of the victim and bring all the culprits to book.
The police commissioner stated: “Having killed the woman and buried her in shallow grave, they did not stop there, they went on calling the children and collecting ransom. So far, they have collected N650,000 from her children after killing the woman.
“They made the children to believe that their mother was still alive. They did a video recording of their mother and played before the children, making them to believe that their mother was still alive”
The apprehended suspects confessed to the crime. One of the suspects said this was his first attempt at kidnapping and robbery.
The eldest son of the victim said one of the suspects live in the same apartment with his mother before she was kidnapped and murdered.