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| A file photo of a police officer wearing a beret displaying the crest of the Nigeria Police Force |
Gunmen have reportedly invaded a mosque at Soyoye in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State, where they kidnapped a police Inspector and two other worshippers.
The police officer, Inspector Kamarudeen Bello, who is also said to be the chief imam of the mosque, was abducted alongside others while praying at about 8pm on Sunday.
According to a source, the police officer is attached to one of the divisional police headquarters in the Ogun State capital.
It was reported that his wife had put to bed four days before the incident. The abductors allegedly called to demand N5 million as a ransom for the release of each of the victims – totalling N15 million.
“The wife of Inspector Kamarudeen was contacted with the phone number of one of the kidnapped victims,” said the source.
It was gathered that the police officer and the other kidnapped victims have been released by their abductors after the payment of a ransom. It was, however, unclear if the actual sum of N15 million was paid to the gunmen.
“I don’t know how much each of them paid, but I think the police inspector parted with about N700,000 before he was released,” a source close to the policeman said.
When contacted, the spokesman for the Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the abduction and release of the victims, although he stated that they were not aware of any ransom paid to the kidnappers.
He said the police would not relent in their resolve to deal with kidnappers and other criminal elements disturbing the peace in the state.
