A 43-year-old suspected member of a kidnap syndicate that specialise in abducting children from Lagos and taking them to Ibadan, Oyo State, for ritual purposes, Kayode Olafisoye, and his fleeing partner, Kayode Akinola, stormed Mind Builders Private School, in Omole Estate, Lagos state, at about 8:00am on Tuesday, waiting for a convenient time to strike.
It was gathered that a parent brought her four-year-old kindergarten to school in a car, at about 8:30am.
Immediately the door of the car was opened to allow the child out, the kidnappers reportedly went for him. An alarm, which alerted the neighbourhood, was raised, consequent upon which Olafisoye was arrested, while his partner managed to escape.
A liquid substance, which he said was administered on their victims to put them to sleep, was recovered from him.
Shortly before he was handed over to the Police at Ojudu Division, the suspect revealed that he had been in the business of kidnapping pupils in different parts of Lagos for a long time.
Speaking in Yoruba language, Olafisoye said: “We came from Ibadan. I can’t tell how many children we have kidnapped in Lagos.
“Some of the areas in Lagos where we have kidnapped children are Berger, Ikotun, Iyana-Oba, Iyana-Ipaja. I can not remember other areas.
“This is the first time we are coming to Omole Estate.
“Whenever we kidnap these children, we would give them a tablet that would daze them.
“We also give them this liquid substance (pointing to the black substance inside the bottle found on him). It is gutter water. It puts them to sleep. We don’t have any particular child in mind.
“Immediately we find a soft target, we would put them inside our car and zoom off. Our targets are usually children between four and seven years, who are not able to shout for help.
“These children are used for rituals in Ibadan.”
The Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the arrest, said the Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi has directed that the suspect be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Yaba for further investigation, adding that efforts were on to arrest the fleeing member.
