The State Security Service in Abuja has paraded four persons suspected to be members of a kidnapping gang operating in the FCT.
Its Director,Mike Fubara who paraded the suspects before newsmen, said the four were men aged from 24 to 26 years.
Fubara said the Service had rescued two men, Maurice Gonga and Abel Aguele, allegedly abducted by the gang along Abuja-Keffi road on July 12 and July 14.
According to him, the leaders of the gang, residing in Port Harcourt, are now at large.
Fubara explained the kidnappers took their victims to a thick forest in Masaka village in Nasarawa State and demanded N50 million ransom to set them free.
He said the families of the victims alerted SSS and after negotiations, the kidnappers reduced their demand to N30 million and finally N500,000.
Fubara, however, said the victims were released on July 16 after some members of the gang were arrested during a “sting operation” by the Service.
He said the kidnappers, from Rivers, Lagos and Abia states had pretended to be policemen on duty at different locations in Mararaba and Masaka, some 11km from the FCT.
He appealed to the public to report any strange persons to the nearest formation of SSS or any security agency, adding that such persons often lodged in remote hotels, claiming to be construction workers.
The two cars, a Rio with registration no. AT406YEN, and a Volkswagen Golf AE740MBA were recovered from the suspects.
One of the victims, Aguele, a car dealer, told newsmen that the kidnappers blocked his car and abducted him on Abuja-Keffi road at about 10 p.m., while he was travelling to Jos.
Aguele said the men were armed with sophisticated weapons, including an AK 47 riffle, blindfolded him and took him away in his own car.
He said they took him to the thick forest and initially demanded a ransom of N50 million to set him free, adding that after series of negotiations, they reduced their demand to N30 million.
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