Police Arrest 5 Persons Over Alleged Kidnapping, Sexual Abuse

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News Investigators/ The police, on Sunday, said that they had arrested five members of a kidnap gang that specialised in abduction of women and girls, sexually abusing them and obtaining ransom from their families.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Frank Mba, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja.
Mr. Mba said that the suspects were arrested by operatives of Intelligence Response Team, following massive manhunt by the Force for the perpetrators of the recent trends of abduction of women in some parts of the country.
He said that victims were subjected to series of sexual abuses, with ransom demanded from their families before their release.
The FPRO said investigations had revealed that the suspects usually targetted lone female drivers of porsche cars, as they drive out of offices, shopping malls and other vulnerable places.
According to him, they, thereafter, trail them to lonely roads, abduct and take them to their criminal hideouts, sexually abuse them and demand ransom from their families before their release.
He said that four AK47 rifles, one double barrel shotgun and set of military camouflage uniforms, suspected to have been illegally acquired, which they usually put on to beat security checks, were recovered.
Mr. Mba said that efforts were being intensified to arrest other fleeing gang members and recover more weapons and stolen vehicles used by the suspects for their operations.
The FPRO also said that operatives of the Nigerian Police INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja had arrested two Kano-based suspects.
He said that investigations had revealed that the suspects were members of a trans-border/international child porn syndicate.
Mr. Mba said that the suspects were in the habit of sexually abusing and taking undue advantage of underage girls and disseminate the video recordings of the illicit sexual act on international social media.
According to him, they do this on a Whatsapp group chat known as “Pervertidos”, owned and managed by a Brazilian, called Adriana.
He said that the arrest of the suspects followed intelligence received from the INTERPOL NCB, Brasilia.
Mba added that exhibits recovered from the suspects included three mobile phones and a laptop computer.
He said that forensic investigations/analyses carried out by the police team on the gadgets revealed the series of pornographic/erotic videos with underage girls, shared by the suspects on the internet for a fee denominated in US dollars.
The FPRO said that a total of 2,792 suspects were arrested by the police for sexual and gender-based violence and other sexual-related offences in 2020.
He said that the arrests were linked to the 2,573 cases currently being prosecuted under the Force Gender Unit in various courts across the country, while others were still under active investigations.
The FPRO enjoined parents and guardians to keep close watch on their children and wards, and report any incident of abuse against women and children.
He expressed displeasure over what he called the prevailing culture of silence in concealing crimes against women and children and called for improved collaboration with the police.
The FPRO said that the police were well repositioned to protect women and children and confront violent crimes in the country.
Mr. Mba stated that all the suspects would be arraigned in court, upon completion of investigations. (NAN)

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