An operative of the Department of State Services has told a Federal High Court, Ibadan, that a suspected kidnapper, Abubakar Abdulazeez, negotiated N20 million with his sister’s mobile phone.
The operative, Tunde Afolabi, was led in evidence on Thursday by the prosecution counsel, M. A. Oladunjoye, before Justice N. E. Maha.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports the defendant is standing trial in a case of alleged terrorism and kidnapping of a businessman, (name withheld).
According to Afolabi, the DSS swung immediately into action upon receiving a distress call on March 7, 2024, that the businessman had been kidnapped along Agoare-Saki Road.
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“After taking the businessman away, the kidnappers made frantic efforts to reach his relatives for ransom, using the phone number 09046861705.
“On March 9, the relatives paid a ransom of N20 million in Ilorin, Kwara State.
“Then, we began a technical analysis of the phone number as well as that of the Itel phone used.
“We traced both the number and the phone, which is a small Itel 14 Dual Sim, to Naima, the defendant’s younger sister, who lives in Agoare, Oyo State.
“Upon interviewing her, she confirmed the phone, and the sim card belonged to her, and that she had lent her brother, who requested it, sometime in February 2024,” said the witness.
According to the DSS operative, Naima further said the defendant recently returned the phone and the sim to her, after which he went back to Kwara.
“With this information, we did further analysis and discovered that the defendant was indeed in Kwara State, and we arrested him.
“Just before the businessman was kidnapped, he (the businessman) threw away his iPhone Promax 13 with him into the bush to hide his identity as a wealthy person.
“We later tracked the iPhone and discovered it was in Saki; further investigation revealed a student of Polytechnic of Saki was now using it.
“Upon his arrest, the student confessed to having bought it at the cost of N190,000 from a Togolese farmer, known as John Jerimiah.
“After his arrest, Jerimiah told us that one Abubakar Fulani gave him to sell.
“When we arrested Fulani, he stated he picked the phone up very close to the scene of the kidnap,” said Afolabi.
The operative told the court that a companion of the businessman in the same car, simply called Mayowa, was shot during the kidnapping process.
“But he did not die and managed to escape,” Afolabi explained.
The DSS witness further said that Abdulazeez confessed to collecting his sister’s phone and sim to perpetuate the crime.
Afolabi added that the businessman was able to identify Abdulazeez from several suspected kidnappers that were lined up.
The judge, Maha, subsequently adjourned the matter until March 10 for further hearing.
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