Police uses kidnapper's wife to negotiate victim's rescue

Detectives from the River State Police Command, secured the

A statement from the Command's Facebook account states that Okachi, was arrested at her residence in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area, after a cash sum of N10 million being the ransom paid was traced to the house of her fleeing husband, Kendiri Okachi, who was indicted in the abduction of a youth leader in the state.

After her arrest, the police used her as the negotiating tool for the release of the victim who was kidnapped on January 12, 2016, in Igwurita axis of the same local government area and kept in a forest for about 11 days.

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Mohammad, said that the N10 million ransom was tracked by the police to the home of one of the suspects that is currently at large.

Mohammad added that one AK-47 rifle and 14 rounds of live ammunition were also recovered from the residence of the fleeing kidnap suspect.

“The victim was abducted on January 12, 2016, in Igwurita by four armed men. Thereafter, kidnappers called family members and demanded for ransom. They (family of the victim) agreed to pay N10 million.

After the ransom was delivered in Elele, we tracked the money, which was picked by one of the kidnappers. The money was tracked to a house in Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area. Police stormed the house and retrieved the bag of money and arrested the wife of one of the kidnappers.

After the arrest of the woman, we heard information that the victim was kept in the forest. A team of security operatives in eight patrol vehicles went into the bush on Saturday by 4am and they laid ambush for the kidnappers.

The wife of one of the kidnappers put a call across to her husband, begging him to release their victim so that the police could release her. That was how we bargained for the kidnappers to free the victim,” Mohammad said.