New details have emerged on how suspected members of a kidnap gang allegedly abducted the sister of former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Mrs Olaide Busayo Adegoke, and her twin sons in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The suspects arrested by operatives of the Force Intelligence Department-Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) and other tactical teams of the Oyo State Police Command were said to have played various roles in the operation carried out on June 3.
Those arrested are the alleged gang leader, Adewale Abolarinwa, aka Oloro; Segun Balogun, aka Alawaye; and Dare Oyedele, aka Solution.
The victims were rescued last Saturday from their place of captivity at Lako community on Ayegun-Olomi Road, Ibadan, following an order by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu.
Balogun, a commercial driver at Iwo Road Motor Park, Ibadan, was alleged to have confessed that he used his driving skills to convey the gang members during the operation.
He said he had known Oloro through the transport union for over 10 years before he was later approached to join the kidnap plot, according to Nigerian Tribune.
“Oloro asked me if Adelabu still has a mother. I said yes. I told him where she was living and he asked me. “He said I should take him to the place,” Balogun said.
After showing Oloro the house, Oloro said the gang leader told him he was going to kidnap either Adelabu’s mother or a child from the family.
“The excuse he gave was that he was broke. He asked me if I wanted to join him too, and pointed out that I was also broke and just driving without making much money. He promised good pay and I agreed to go with him. “My role was to drive the vehicle used in the kidnap operation,” he added.
Balogun said the gang went into action on June 3 after Oloro called him a day before to inform him of the operation.
He said four of them were in the vehicle used for the operation, and added that three others were masked as he drove.
Oloro saw the car that was being targeted and told me to follow it. Then he told me to swerve and block the front of it. “He and two others got out and bundled the mother and the children into our operational car,” he said.
The other suspect, Oyedele, popularly called Solution, was said to be an automobile electrician, who was known around Orita Challenge, Podo and nearby areas of Ibadan.
Solution allegedly did surveillance for the gang before the kidnap, police sources said.
The gang allegedly began plotting the abduction on May 5 by monitoring the compound where the twins lived, the school they attended and the vehicle used to ferry them.
In intercepted communications, Solution allegedly described the children’s school as expensive and well-equipped, as well as providing information on the family’s residence and movement.
Solution, who claimed to be 43 and from Ishara Remo in Ogun State, admitted knowing Oloro for about one year.
He said: “Oloro was initially a member of OPC but was expelled after the kidnap case he had back then. I heard about him through OPC members. He later moved to Lagos but used to come to Ibadan.”
According to him, Oloro later invited him into the gang and told him to follow him around in his car during movements he did not fully understand at first.
On June 2, Oloro drove a Toyota Corolla to his house at Podo with two pump-action guns in the vehicle.
“During the operation, three of us, Oloro, Kelechi and I used masks. Alawaye sat in the car, no mask on. Oloro handed me an axe to hold. Solution said that he and Kelechi were holding the two pump-action guns.
He said Oloro was said to have smashed the side glass of the vehicle belonging to the victims before the woman and children were put into the car of the gang.
Balogun first became a suspect when operatives looking for Oloro got in touch with him because of his known relationship with the alleged gang leader, police sources said.
He was reportedly seen trying to delete information from his phone while speaking with the operatives.
The officers allegedly checked the phone and found messages concerning an alleged gun purchase involving Oloro.
Balogun was arrested but it was said that Oloro was nabbed before his alleged involvement in the kidnap was fully uncovered.
During the rescue operation, police said some suspects were arrested and two others were neutralised.
Further checks reportedly led operatives to Solution’s property where a pump-action gun was allegedly recovered, bringing the total number of guns recovered from the gang to three.
It was also said that Oloro was found with several charms, some of which were allegedly recovered from his vehicle.
Sources said the alleged gang leader had refused to talk since the police briefing by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Ayodeji Abimbola.
Earlier in September 2022, Oloro was paraded by the Oyo State Police Command following his arrest along with other suspected members of a kidnap gang.
He is believed to have confessed to previous kidnapping and car snatching.
He was later arraigned and remanded in prison but it was not clear how he got bail before allegedly returning to crime.
