Police confirm arrest of most wanted kidnap suspect in Lagos

The suspect simply identified as Evans was arrested in his mansion at Magodo Estate, Lagos. Magodo is said to be one of the highbrow estates, where prominent Nigerians and foreign businessmen reside. The suspect was allegedly the brain behind most of the high profile kidnap cases across the country. It was gathered that the suspect has been on the police wanted list for years. Our reporter on Sunday learnt that the suspect was arrested at his residence around 1pm yesterday after weeks of discrete investigation by the IRT team led by Abba Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of Police. A senior police source said the IGP deployed three IRT teams to Lagos, after he got an intelligence report that the suspect was in his Magodo mansion. It was also alleged that Evans and his gang members were responsible for the kidnap of some school children, the Isheri landlords as well as the abduction of a pharmacist. He was said to have demanded N500 million from family members of the pharmacist as ransom and threatened to kill the pharmacist if the money was not complete. At press time the suspect was at the Lagos State Command Headquarters, Ikeja, where he was being quizzed by a crack team of detectives. Another senior police source described Evans as the “most brilliant and notorious high profile kidnapper in the history of Nigeria”. The source added that Evans and his gang collected billions of Naira as ransom in the last seven years from victims. He said: “Evans is the kingpin of kidnappers and lives in a porch house in an highbrow estate.IGP Ibrahim Idris had earlier declared Evans wanted and had mobilized resources for his arrest”. Efforts to get official reaction from the police proved abortive, but Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the IGP has directed the FPRO, CSP Jimoh Moshood, to proceed to Lagos, where he would parade Evans and his gang members.]]>