An ex-banker, John Ewa, alias Lion, has been nabbed by operatives of the Bayelsa State Police Command in Abuja.
The suspect confessed in a video to have been behind the kidnap of a bank manager, who paid N60 million ransom.
According to available information, Ewa, who is from the South East, is a top member of a kidnap syndicate in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Sources in the Bayelsa State Police Command said the road to the arrest of Ewa was paved by one of the latest kidnaps they undertook.
One of the victims identified Ewa in a video in which he confessed to have taken part in “only two” kidnap operations.
He was said to have used his position as a banker to glean information of would-be targets.
Indeed, operatives of Operation Puff Adder of the Bayelsa State Police Command arrested two suspects in connection with the abduction of a top executive of Premium Trust Bank in the state.
The police team, led by SP Chris Nwaogbo, was said to have arrested two suspected members of a four-man kidnap gang allegedly involved in the June 30, 2022 kidnap of Danjuma Emeije, Senior Manager, PTB, at Okaka in Yenagoa metropolis.
It was gathered that the kidnap suspects reportedly collected N60 million ransom over Emeije’s abduction.
A cybercafé owner, Kingsley Innocent, 31, an indigene of Egbu community in Etche, Rivers State, and Godlive Donald, 24, an indigene of Omoku, Rivers State, who claimed to be Rivers State police informants, were reportedly arrested by the police in connection with the banker’s abduction.
The blue Toyota Corolla vehicle used for the operation was also recovered by the police.
A close relative of the banker, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the arrest of the suspects.
He said: “When Danjuma Emeije came back from the Operation Puff Adder’s office in Yenagoa, he was visibly shaking after seeing those involved in his horrifying kidnap.”
Spokesman for the Bayelsa State Police Command, SP Asinim Butswat, said: “Investigation is ongoing and the police are making progress.”
The investigation eventually led to the arrest of Ewa, popularly known as John Lion.
In several videos, Ewa was seen displaying lavish lifestyles.
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