By Iyalla Adaye
Port Harcourt
Operatives of the Rivers state Police Command have arrested a driver, Jerry Igiri, for allegedly kidnapping his employer’s four-year-old son, Goodnews.
Igiri, an employee of a Port Harcourt-based lawyer had pretentiously joined a search party that tried without success for 17 days to find and rescue for the boy he was said to have handed over to a kidnap gang.
The victim was reportedly taken away by the driver after he returned from school and handed over to yet to a lady said to be a member of the kidnap gang.
Blueprint gathered that the victim’s mother who was busy in the kitchen preparing launch discovered her son was nowhere to be found when she wanted to serve him the food.
According to eye witness account the suspect who was pretending to have been sleeping inside the car at the time joined in the search for the missing boy within the neighbourhood.
The eye witness who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the terrified mother subsequently reported the matter to the police when all effort to reach the boy failed.
Narrating her experience, the victim’s mother simply identified as Tenelor said: “We got a call from the kidnappers. I did not pick the first call that came in because I did not know who called. They told my sister who picked the first call to give it to the owner of the phone. Then it dawned on us that it must be the kidnappers.
“Later, they called back to say my son was with them, that I should get N20m ready, that they would call back in 48 hours. I alerted the police of the development.”
She said it was the police that focused attention on the driver who they detained after interrogating as he was said to have made contradicting statement about the incident.
According to her, Jerry later confessed to the woman that he arranged the kidnap of her son, blaming his action on the work of the devil and with the help of the police; the four-year-old boy was released without ransom.
Speaking to journalists the suspects said: “I agreed with the kidnappers that if she (Mrs. Tenelor) paid the ransom, I would use my money to take care of myself. They told me my madam negotiated for N20million and I told them to accept it because I was already in a fix. Returning the boy was a problem to me and collecting the money was another problem.
“But my madam did not pay the money. If they had collected N20m, I would have had N7million. The boy knew I was the one that did it. I was very close to the boy I kidnapped. He calls me Jerry.
“We arranged the kidnap for three days, but we kept him for 17 days. I gave the kidnappers my one month’s salary of N15,000, to feed the boy. I have been working for my madam for four years now. I would have relocated to the village if she had paid the ransom.”
Confirming the incident to journalists, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Muhammad, said investigation was ongoing, even as efforts were on to arrest other members of the gang.
Muhammad explained that Jerry would soon be charged to court for masterminding the abduction of the four-year-old boy.
