Despite
repeated warning by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni and the
arrest of over 30 suspects for jungle justice, a suspected kidnapper was
yesterday
lynched by an angry mob in Akinpelu, Oshodi area of Lagos State.
The Guardian
gathered that the suspect was killed for allegedly attempting to kidnap three
babies. The Lagos State police command said he was killed before the arrival of
a police patrol team. Some persons at the scene of the crime have been arrested
by the Akinpelu police station.
There was
pandemonium at Brown Street, Oshodi, as the suspected kidnapper was clubbed to
death following the alleged kidnap of three children who were returning from
their holiday coaching.
According to
eyewitnesses, the alleged kidnapper was caught with a big bag, popularly known
as Ghana must go, which he was struggling with along Salami Street. This
prompted suspicious residents to question him, and to their surprise, they
discovered three children in the bag he carried.
The abducted
children were said to have lost their voices due to suffocation as they barely
struggled to stay alive until they were rescued.
Sources told
The Guardian that before the suspect was lynched, he alleged to be a Further
Mathematics teacher from one Odeogberin International Nursery and Primary
School at Owoseni Street, Oshodi but when he was taken to the school, the
headmaster said he was not a teacher and had never seen him before.
A resident, who
simply identified herself as Omotoke, said area boys took the kidnapper around
and asked for his identity but when no one recognized him, they stripped him of
his clothes.
“When they
opened his bag, two of the children appeared to have died while one was still
breathing. At the sight of the lifeless bodies, the angry mob beat him until he
died,” she said.
Another
eyewitness said a police van drove by twice during the lynching but gave them
the go ahead to kill the kidnapper.
When The
Guardian visited the Akinpelu police station, the Divisional Police Officer
(DPO) noted that the suspect’s body has been deposited in mortuary.
Lagos State
police spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police
(ASP) told newsmen that the case is that of jungle justice.
According to
Famous-Cole, “the information I received from the DPO is that someone was
lynched by a mob for attempting to kidnap two babies. The DPO has been waiting
for anyone to come and report attempted kidnap of his or her babies, but as we
speak no one has shown up. Before our police officers could get to scene, the
suspect was killed.
“Our
officers took the body of the suspect to the hospital and arrested some persons
who were at the scene when the incident happened in order to aid our
investigation.”
The Lagos
State police boss, Fatai Owoseni, who spoke to The Guardian on telephone, noted
that he has not been briefed about the matter.
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