The Okpella neighborhood of Etsako East Local Government Area, Edo State, has seen no less than 70 arrests by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, banditry supply logistics, and other offenses. The arrests were made after local criminal elements killed eight security guards who were employed by BUA Cement Company last month.
The investigation revealed the faces behind the wave of kidnappings and violence that had afflicted Okpella and its surroundings, according to a statement released by CSC Afolabi Babawale, the NSCDC spokesman, on Wednesday. He stated: “The CG’s Special Intelligence Squad worked with the Nigerian Army and the General Manager of BUA International Cement, Mr. Richard Gidado, to launch a coordinated assault against the perpetrators in response to the Commandant General’s directive, Prof. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, on an aggressive onslaught against unscrupulous elements terrorizing the peace of Edo State and those responsible for the massacre of eight personnel attached to BUA Cement Company last month.
He cited As Dandaura, the command of the team that conducted the operation, as saying that the suspects broke into rural areas while committing violent crimes and kidnappings by posing as illegal miners and charcoal dealers. During the combined cleaning operation, he revealed, multiple criminal hideouts used to hold victims were found and demolished. Many victims were rescued as a result of the operation, including Mrs. Agbe Martha, who had been held captive for more than seven days, he continued, even though some of the kidnappers were able to escape.
Mrs. Agbe Martha described how she and her sister-in-law were abducted by armed men while they were working on their rice plantation in the Itsukwi community’s Ichoke neighborhood. Pretending to be herdsmen, more than five armed guys broke onto our rice farm. While my husband, Paschal Agbe, was able to get out, they held us captive. We were brutalized and tormented in their den as they sought a ransom of ₦30 million to free us,” she stated with tears in her eyes. Families were reunited with Agbe and other victims.
