The alleged kingpin of kidnappers in the Ikorodu area of Lagos has been arrested by the Nigerian police and is being detained by the police command in Ikeja, Lagos State. According to one of our police sources, the suspect, who identified himself simply as Felix, confessed that he was part of a Felix gang that kidnapped three students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in March this year. The officer claimed that Felix also confessed to participating in two other kidnappings in the Ikorodu area.
Another source said Felix had evaded arrest since March when the police began looking for him and other suspects in the kidnap of the Babington students. The source said the kidnap ringleader reappeared in Ikorodu after one of his colleagues told him that another kidnap operation was in the offing.
Our correspondent learned that Felix told police investigators that he had been hiding out in a town called Igbolomu, but that he was lured out when one of his crime partners called him with a “business” proposal. “He wanted us to kidnap his boss,” Felix reportedly confessed. The police told SaharaReporters that the said partner in crime, known as “Mosquito,” was also arrested.
One source revealed that Felix was arrested in a hotel in Ikorodu where he was lodged with his girlfriend. Before his arrest, the police had taken custody of his wife and children as a ploy to bring him out of hiding.
Felix disclosed that he charged a fee of 250,000 naira for each kidnapping he pulled off. “For the school children’s kidnap, they gave us 5.4 million naira, but I only got 250,000 naira,” Felix said, adding, “I have not raped or killed anybody in my life. It is only three kidnappings that I have done since. I just got to Lagos, and I was staying at my sister’s place in ‘Majindun’ before I moved to Ikorodu.”
Our correspondent reported that the detained suspect expressed regret, stating that he had brought shame to his family members, particularly his wives and children. He said he had always known that he would one day be caught, but blamed his life of crime on the absence of a job. One of the police officers at the Ikeja Command told our correspondent that Felix had been boasting that no police officer could arrest him.
In March, about ten kidnappers reportedly stormed Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu and abducted three girls from their dormitory. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of N100 million for each girl. They later revised their ransom down to N20 million naira per child. The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State insisted that no ransom was paid before the girls were rescued.
