A 200-level student of a university in Kogi State, Odo Sebastine, has been arrested by the police in Lagos, after he allegedly pretended to be one of the kidnappers of Toyin, the wife of The SUN’s newspaper’s Deputy Director, Mr. Steve Nwosu.
Sebastine, on Tuesday at the police command headquarters, Ikeja, said he pretended to be one of the kidnappers and put a call across to the victim’s family so as to extort some money from the family.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Tuesday, September 15, that Toyin was abducted from the family’s Ago Palace, Okota residence after a gang of robbers stormed the area on the preceding day at about 2am.
It had been later reported that the robbers, who escaped in a speedboat, had released the mother of two some four days later, after which she was reunited with her family.
PUNCH Metro learnt that in the course of police investigation, Sebastine was arrested as one of the suspected kidnappers, after he allegedly called Toyin’s husband to discuss the payment of a ransom.
Sebastine, who confirmed making the phone call, however, said he had read the report on the pages of the newspapers and he had thought it would be an avenue to extort money from the distressed family.
He added that he had nothing to do with the kidnappers which were still at large.
He said, “I am an undergraduate in Kogi. I am studying Economics. On that Tuesday, I had read the report of the woman’s abduction on the pages of the newspaper just like everyone. I thought I could make money from the family so I decided to find the director’s phone number from a copy of the SUN newspaper.
“I called him to say that I could get him the gang’s location and bring back his wife. I asked him to pay N100, 000. I lied to him that I was a member of the gang and thought he would pay the money.
“But he had not paid the money before I was arrested. The police traced the call and got me. I am not a kidnapper. I am a student.”
A police source told our correspondent that Nwosu realised that Sebastine’s call was not genuine when the real gang placed a call to demand a N100m ransom later in the day.
He added that the police were, however, extracting useful information from the suspect.
The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, noted that investigations were still ongoing on the matter.
