The Nigeria Police Force, Benue State Command, has Police arrested and placed under detention eight suspected kidnappers and also recovered no fewer than bodies of four persons who were victims of the criminal gang.
It explained that the arrested suspects were part of a 10-man gang of kidnappers who escaped from the Sankara area of the state and had been terrorising the area.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Anene Catherine, said that following intelligence report, operatives of the command trailed the fleeing persons, arrested the eight suspects in Osun State, and brought them back to Benue for further investigation.
Through a statement on Thursday, the spokesperson noted that the suspects, on Monday, opted to lead police detectives to Tavachan forest in Mbamon in Kastina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue where they buried their slain victims.
According to her, ppon arriving at the scene, officers found a deep well and a shallow grave in the forest with decomposed bodies of the suspects’ victims.
“Suspects confessed that some of the victims died due to inability to survive the trauma of being held hostage while others were killed for not paying the required ransom.
“Two of the suspects also confessed to have killed their wives for making attempt to expose their nefarious acts. Four corpses were exhumed for autopsy while an investigation into the case is ongoing to enable the arrest of suspects at large and unravel more facts about the case,” the statement said.
She added that the operatives deployed to Sankara dislodged bandits’ camps and recovered arms and ammunition within the last two weeks.
She added that the suspects have been arrested and charged to court while normalcy has been restored in various markets within the area.
