Nigerian Police Busts Kidnappers’ Spiritual Home In Delta State

The escape of a Nigerian female kidnap victim
from the kidnappers’ den has led to the
discovery of a shrine where inter-state
kidnappers and armed robbers take their
victims to hypnotise.

The shrine which is located in a forest in Oduke,
a neighborhood of Okwe community in Asaba,
capital of Delta state, is presided over by a fake
prophet and his wife, also suspected to be
members of the kidnapping/armed robbery
syndicate.

Armed robbery and kidnap victims taken there
are forced to drink concoctions to hypnotize
them. But the concoction also gives health
complications.

The escape of Mrs. Ojukwu from the shrine
however blew the lid open, after she was
dispossessed of her property including cash.
She promptly reported the incident to the
police.

It was gathered that the gang usually
entrapped unsuspecting passengers in a
vehicle occupied by the gang members with the
driver of the cab pretending to be a commercial
transporter.

Mrs. Ojukwu who claimed to be a trader in
jewelries, said she was going to Nnewi, in the
neighboring state of Anambra on the fateful
day when she ran into the hoodlums along the
Onitsha-Owerri expressway in Anambra state.

According to her, she had flagged down a taxi
occupied by the driver and three passengers
including a man and two women and told the
driver that she was going to Nnewi.

She claimed that the driver reversed the vehicle
and headed towards the River Niger Bridge,
instead of going to Nnewi, following which she
said they threatened to shoot her if she raised
alarm. A gun was pointed on her head.

According to her, she was initially taken to the
operational base of the hoodlums in Oduke
area of Asaba before she was taken to the
shrine which had the paraphernalia of a
Christian worship centre.

Mrs. Ojukwu said the prophet in-charge of the
shrine forced her to drink concoction which
made her to be unconscious, adding that as at
the time regained consciousness, her N.6
million and gold jewelries valued at N1.8 million
were gone.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Ojukwu has taken ill, following
a strange ailment she incurred after allegedly
drinking the concoction at the shrine.
“I have gone to several hospitals to seek
solution to this ailment that is making me to
cough to no avail,” she said, adding doctors
were yet to diagnose the strange ailment for
possible remedy.

Delta state police command Public Relations
Officer, ASP Lucky Uyabeme, who confirmed
the report, said some of the suspects have
been arrested from their hide out.
He said the woman was rushed to a hospital
where doctors confirmed that she was
suffering as a result of the concoction she
drank, adding that the victim was still
undergoing medical examination.

According to the police spokesman Uyabeme,
the prophet who forcefully administered the
concoction on the victim scaled the fence when
he sighted the police and had since gone
underground.

Delta State once earned the notoriety of being
the base of kidnappers in Nigeria.