Ifeanyi Nwachukwu, a pastor in charge of Live By Faith Church, Ogbagu, has been arrested by agents of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Imo State Police Command. The pastor was reportedly involved in the kidnapping of Damian Oluwa a one-year-old boy.
Miracle Emenekwuru, of Ifakala, in the Mbaitoli LGA a 23-year-old man was also arrested.
Ify Ezeudeogu, the command’s Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, stated to journalists on Thursday after rescuing the child that the boy was kidnapped by a four-man gang on Saturday. The boy has been returned to his mother Vivian Ebere.
According to Ezeudeogu, the goons invaded Ebere’s apartment at Egbu, Owerri, at around 2am, and robbed the mother before abducting the boy.
The suspects stole Automated Teller Machine cards (ATM) from the woman during the operation.
Initially N627,000 was paid as ransom for the boy, however, the suspects still refused to release him to the family.
She said “On Saturday, around 2am, a gang of armed robbers and kidnap suspects invaded the apartment of one Vivian Ebere.
“The hoodlums robbed the victim and collected her ATM cards and eventually kidnapped her 17 months old baby, Damian Oluwa.
“The hoodlums later called the boy’s mother for ransom. The sum of N627,000 was collected from the family.”
It was after that the family made a complaint at FSARS office and Ezeudeogu and her team deployed.
“The SARS operatives, acting on intelligence and constructive digital analysis, swooped on the assailants on Maduwuba Avenue, Orji, Owerri, arrested the two suspects and rescued the kidnapped child,” she added.
Mother of the boy, Ebere, narrated how after the family had paid the first ransom, the suspects demanded an extra N200,000.
She said that the five days her son stayed with the abductors were filled with nightmares for her household.
“We have taken him to a hospital. A series of tests were run on him. He is okay now,” she added.
The pastor told journalists that although the victim was kept in his house, he was ignorant of the fact that he was kidnapped.
He said when he queried the principal suspect, one Kechi Ogobuiro, who was at large, on how he came about the boy, he (Ogobuiro) lied to him.
“He said he impregnated a woman who lived with her parents in Umuahia. He said his girlfriend handed over the boy to him,” he added.
On the relationship between him and the principal suspect, the embattled pastor said Ogobuiro was the son of his child’s godmother.
“He is a student at the Zenith University, Ghana,” he added.
Leave a Reply