One of the rescued girls .
TVC E. After five days of anxiety with parents, friends and family; the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS), Ikorodu, girls regain their freedom.
Oluwatimehin Olusa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were abducted from their classroom during prep last Monday.
They were rescued at about 9:45am by a team led by Lagos State Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni.
Their rescue came two days after Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase deployed the Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT) to complement the efforts of the Lagos State Command.
Three of the suspects were arrested and are at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja.
Among the suspects is Emmanuel Arigidi. Also being held are two others who allegedly registered the mobile telephone sim card that was used to contact the girls’ parents for to demand ransom.
A police source spoke of how security agents infiltrated the gang and worked on their members’ parents in a bid to force the hand of the kidnappers. “The criminals gave up because of too much pressure on them,” he said, requesting not to be named because he is not permitted to talk to the media.
Emmanuel Arigidi, 37, yesterday explained how the plot to kidnap the girls was hatched up.
READ ALSO:Lagos schoolgirls’ abductors demand #60m ransom
He also said the girls were not hurt while with their abductors. Arigidi, who also confessed to have participated in the bloody Ikorodu bank robberies, said he was stationed on the river and received N100,000 for ferrying the bank robbers to the creeks.
Arigidi, who claimed to be a traditional bone doctor, said the abduction of the schoolgirls at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS), Ikorodu was planned for two months.
The Ondo State indigene, who confirmed that the group stormed the school two months ago but could not kidnap any student, explained that they went back to the drawing board.
“After Arigidi was arrested, the father of two of the criminals, volunteered to go into the Adamo creeks to speak with the others.
“He went with a canoe after Arigidi gave the police the exact location of the girls. When he got to the creeks, he spoke to them, informing them that the police had arrested one of their gang members.
“He also told them that if they failed to release the girls, the police had stationed their helicopters for aerial bombardment. Seeing no other way out, the suspects quickly took the girls to Igbo-Okuta Bridge, Imota area of ikorodu, dropped them there and called in anonymously,” said the source.
Confirming the girls’ release, Owoseni said: “Yes the girls have been rescued. I am with them and about to hand them over to their principal and parents. In continuation of our search for the girls, I received information that they were sighted at Imota area of Ikorodu. I went there to pick them up in my car and they are safe in police custody.
”They were rescued at about 9.44am yesterday (Sunday). I can confirm that some of the suspects were arrested. We are not aware if ransom was paid.”
Owoseni, who slept in the area, said he was driving around Ikorodu in his car when he got a telephone call that the girls were sighted at Imota.
READ ALSO: We’ll ensure rescue of kidnapped girls – Ambode
“They were rescued by the Imota police division. I carried the girls in my car and took them to the school to reunite them with their parents and loved ones. The girls are fine but we will not be exposing them to the media as a result of their age (14 years).
“They have gone to shower and after that, their parents will be brought to brief you people,” he said.
Owoseni said yesterday that investment in technology assisted the police to rescue the schoolgirls.
“I want to say that what was employed in rescuing the girls is more of application of intelligence-led policing, using the platform of technology, partnering with members of the community and pressure on the kidnappers.
“What we have done with other security agencies is that we also went for members of their families, including the mothers, the fathers, their children and, with that pressure, they found out that there was no way again for them to continue keeping the girls and that was what led to the success we recorded in rescuing the girls.”
He said the police will continue investigations to round up other members of the gang.
“The Governor has just mentioned that the state has the capacity to pursue any criminal who dares at all to come and disturb the peace or to commit crime in Lagos. I can assure you that we are all secured,” the police chief said.
He said the girls were rescued at Imota area of Ikorodu but declined to disclose where the suspects were picked so as “not to jeopardize our investigation”.
