Matilda Omonaiye/
Four men have been held by the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) five months after a gang kidnapped and killed a reverend father despite the payment of N1.7million ransom in Benue State.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Don Awunah, told journalists in Abuja that the suspected kidnappers and killers of Rev. Father John Alex Adeyi of the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo and Parish Priest of St. Bernard’s Church, Okpoga were captured during a massive manhunt ordered by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris.
Rev. Father Adeyi was on his way to Otukpo, in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue to settle a dispute when he was abducted on April 24, 2016. His body was later found on June 22, 2016, in nearby Ogonokwu Forest, in Otukpo, after the kidnappers had collected N1.7million as ransom from his family.
The police identified the suspects, who were arrested in Bauchi, Enugu, and Benue states between September 1 – 14, 2016, as Suleiman Gina (30), Saidu Abdullahi (28), Aliyu Garba (26), and 27-year-old Haruna Idi.
Gina was identified as the gang leader and Garba as the man who shot the victim dead.
According to police authorities, the black Nokia Lumia phone of the late Reverend Father was recovered in Boto Village, Bauchi State, while the phone used for the ransom negotiation was found in Obollo town, Enugu State.
On September 15, 2016, the suspects led IRT operatives to the bush in Orokam area of Benue, where three guns used in the operation were found buried in the bush.
“Aliyu Garba who confessed to have pulled the trigger and killed the Reverend also identified the gun he used,” said a police source.
Meanwhile, the IGP has commended the elite police squad led by CSP Abba Kyari for the use of Technical Intelligence Resources of the Force to crack the kidnap-murder case.
Awunah said that the suspects would soon be arraigned in court.