SSS arrests ex-militant, others over Bayelsa monarch's kidnapping

The State Security Service on Monday paraded a 24-year-old ex-militant and other suspected kidnappers of a monarch in Bayelsa State, King Godwin Igodo.The kidnapper, identified as Promise Adegbe,who allegedly pocketed a whooping N12.5m before the traditional ruler was released after spending close to a month in his custody, the security agency said, would be arraigned on Tuesday (today) in a state High Court in Yenagoa.An Assistant Director with the SSS, Didacus Egbeji, who spoke with journalists in Yenagoa, said the three other suspected kidnappers that were involved in the abduction of the first class traditional ruler were still on the run.He listed the names of the suspects currently on the run as Mikel, Osuo and Kingdom, noting that Adegbe was arrested last month in Yenagoa.Egbeji said the traditional ruler was released near Abonnema River in Akuku-Toru Local Government, Rivers State, where he was kept for close to a month while negotiations were going on.Igodo was abducted at his Ogbogoro home by three armed men on September 1 and released on September 27 after a ransom of N12.5m was paid by the family of the monarch to the kidnappers.The traditional ruler is the paramount ruler of Atissa clan in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.The SSS added that the kidnappers also received about N150,000 worth of mobile phone recharge cards from the kings family.Egbeji said, Promise Adegbe is an ex-militant belonging to the Young Shall Grow Camp. He confessed that himself, one Mikel, Osuo and Kingdom currently at large were behind the kidnap of Godwin Igodo.He also stated that he had collected an initial payment from the ransom and was to collect the balance with which he was to return to Port Harcourt, unfortunately he was arrested before his intended return to Port Harcourt.But in a interview with newsmen, the suspect denied being involved in the kidnapping of the monarch.He further claimed he did not know the whereabouts of the three suspects now at large.I only received a phone call at Skye Bank, Yenagoa to come and update my account only to arrive there and be arrested by security agents, he said.
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