The Rivers State Police Command has paraded four suspects allegedly involved in the kidnap and murder of a 65-year-old man identified as Sokari Braide.
Spokesman of the Command, Nnamdi Omoni, who disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Friday said the suspects were arrested following a discreet investigation by operatives of the Eagle Crack Unit at the Mile One Police Station.
Omoni said the late Braide was kidnapped on August 8, 2020, at the Elechi Waterfront located at the Diobu axis of Port Harcourt, the State capital, noting that his captors had collected a ransom of N1.2 million from his wife but did not release him immediately as promised.
Omoni said the kidnap was masterminded by a prime suspect simply identified as Mr Perfect, who acted as the middleman between the kidnappers and the victim.
The PPRO said the victim revealed this on his hospital bed before he died and the information led to the arrest of the suspects.
“Families without letting the police know, went ahead to deliver a ransom of N1.2million, they thought that man has been released. They later called the wife that her husband has been released.
“When they (family) got there, he was unconscious. That was when they alerted the police. We got there, recovered the man and took him to the hospital. He made a few comments before he finally gave up the ghost.
“The clue he (the diseased) gave to us was what led to the arrest of the man who went to deliver the ransom. Unknown to him, that man has been working with him and knows everything about him.
“He (Perfect) even compelled the wife not to report to the police,” Omoni stated, noting that some of the suspects have confessed to the crime.
Wife of the disease, Beauty Sokari, also told newsmen that the kidnappers tortured her husband to death even after she had paid the said ransom.
Source: Punch