The Intelligence Response Unit of the Nigeria Police has arrested three brothers, Johnson Emmanuel, Gideon Emmanuel and Success Emmanuel, for alleged kidnap and murder of a 55-year-old woman.
Johnson, 38, Gideon, 31 and Success, 27, were said to have abducted and murdered Mrs Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya on May 14, 2020 in Abuja.
According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, in a statement on Thursday, the siblings are natives of Isiekenesi, Ideato LGA of Imo State and they were apprehended in their hometown after they fled Abuja to escape police arrest.
The spokesman said,” Investigations that led to the arrest of the suspects is sequel to complaints received from one Chinedu Ogbonnaya who alleged that his mother, Mrs Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya, 55yrs, native of Ozuitem in Bende LGA of Abia State had been kidnapped and a 5-Million naira ransom demanded before she could be released. A comprehensive and painstaking investigation by the police operatives resulted in the arrest of the three (3) suspects, whom, in the course of interrogation, revealed that the victim had long been murdered and buried. Further findings revealed that the victim, a widow, who had been a Facebook friend of the principal suspect – Johnson Emmanuel, was lured from her home in Gwagwalada to visit the suspect. The suspect thereafter took advantage of the visit, served her yoghurt laced with drugs and subsequently had her murdered. The suspect having killed the victim and buried her remains in a septic tank, went ahead to reach out to the family of the victim using her phone and demanded 5-Million naira ransom as pre-condition for her release.”
Mba disclosed that the suspect, on Thursday, led a team of investigators and pathologists to a house at Wumba District, Lokogoma, Abuja, where the decomposing body of the deceased was found in a septic tank before been taken to the University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja, for forensic examination.
”A Toyota Highlander Jeep belonging to the deceased has also been recovered by Police operatives at a mechanic workshop in Apo where it had been repainted into a different colour, vehicle documents fraudulently changed and ownership of the stolen vehicle criminally transferred to one of the masterminds of the crime – Johnson Emmanuel,” the spokesman added.
While establishing that the house where the atrocity was perpetrated originally belonged to one of the suspects, Mba said the edifice was sold off to another person in order to cover up the crime.
He therefore assured citizens, on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, of the Force’s readiness to deal with crime perpetrators while urging the public to report suspicious activities in their vicinity.