‘I got N6.5m from operations’, says soldier gang member of Evans
The last may not have been heard of the unfolding saga of kidnap kingpin, Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, aka Evans, following his startling revelation that some members of his strike team were serving security agents. One of them, a serving personnel of the Nigerian Army, identified as Lance Corporal Victor Chukwunonso, with Army No: 09/NA/64/6317, has been arrested.
Unsuspecting Lance Corporal Chukwunonso, who is attached to the Nigeria Army Band Corps, Abalti Barracks, in the Surulere area of Lagos, was arrested at about 9pm on Friday, in the Ojo area of the state, from where he was subsequently taken into police custody.
During investigation, Chukwunonso, as reliably gathered, admitted to have only gone on three kidnap operations with Evans. He disclosed that he got a total of N6.5 million from the operations. He revealed to policemen that all the operations were carried out in Festac, Lagos.
He claimed to have been given N3milion from the first operation, N2 million form the second and N1.5million from the third.
The Anambra state-born suspect also disclosed that he belonged to the Strike Force of the kidnap gang. Members of the Strike Force, he revealed, were responsible for abducting victims and taking them to an exchange camp, from where the receiving team would pick victims to their detention camps.
Police sources had earlier hinted that during interrogation, Evans had made some disturbing revelations. For instance, Evans explained that he usually picked serving security agents as members of the Strike Force because of their expertise in arms handling.
Ironically, he said this was in order not to shoot innocent persons during operations.
How convenient! Police did not release kidnap suspects Meanwhile, corroborating one of the stories overleaf (about the bail granted a suspect as exclusively discovered by Sunday Vanguard) the Lagos State Police Command has debunked claims by an abducted victim who escaped from one of Evans’ detention camps in Igando, Lagos, Chief Donatus Dunu, that the Police released one of his trainees whom he alleged gave information about him to Evans.
Dunu, had told policemen that he heard the voice of one of his boys identified simply as Emeka, in the detention camp where he was kept, discussing with Evans’ members. Consequently, Emeka and another identified person were arrested. But in an interview with a television station, Dunu expressed disappointment that the Police went ahead to release Emeka in spite of the glaring evidences against him. . Giving the Police position on Emeka’s release, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration, Dansuki Galandashi, explained that “One of Evans’ victims, Chief Donatus Dunu, who escaped from where he was kept on May 12, 2017, led policemen from this command to the hideout, where arms and ammunitions, including 59 magazines, were recovered. With the support of the Intelligence Response Team and Technical Intelligence Unit of the Police force, Evans was eventually arrested.
The escaped victim, Dunu, told policemen that he suspected one of his boys, Emeka, who was subsequently arrested. “To get the records straight, Emeka and two others, Kingsley and Tochukwu, were arrested and charged to court on May 17, 2017. The suspects were remanded in prison custody for one month and two weeks, from where the court granted them bail on June 23, 2017.
Before they were granted bail, Evans was arrested. We did an identification parade and they said they did not know Evans. Evans also claimed not to know any of them. Besides, Evans told investigators that members of his strike team do not know any of the detention camps. He said when they strike, they usually took victims to a place from where the receiving team came to pick them to detention camps. Since the IGP’s creed is to inspire openness, we had no choice than to charge the case to court. The court looked at the evidences and released the suspects. The Police did not release them, the court did”.
(Read exclusive details of what transpired between the Police and the suspects on page 10) We are not in a hurry to charge Evans to court Galadanshi also stated that the Police were not in a hurry to release Evans, inspite of calls from different quarters to do so. He said : “Evans has been a kidnapper for a long time and has been on the wanted list of the Police in Anambra, Abuja , Enugu, Edo and Lagos States. He also has a criminal gang, some of whom have been arrested in Enugu and Lagos. But there are still more out there. Therefore, this needs a painstaking investigation. Besides, we need to under study him as well as debrief him properly. By so doing, we intend to use his tactics to get others. He will eventually be charged to court after investigation is concluded” . Though Galandashi confirmed that other suspected members of Evans’ gang had been arrested, aside the six suspects that were paraded alongside Evans the penultimate week, but he refused to give details on their latest arrest. He only assured that more arrests would be made. Vanguard
