A 26-year-old son of a serving Police Inspector attached to Rivers State Police Command arrested as a kidnap suspect is now in police net.
Telkina Silva, the suspect was among the six-member kidnap syndicate that abducted Chief Nemi Adoki, the Chief Executive Officer of Menakeb Limited, last December in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital.
It is gathered that the 61-year-old Adoki was about driving out of his building located on Victoria Street, in the company of his driver and an unidentified man, when the kidnappers stormed the vicinity.
They announced their presence with sporadic gun shots before dragging their target out of his vehicle. Thereafter, they whisked their prey into their operational vehicle and drove to the creeks in Akuku-Toru local government area.
In an act of bravery, Maikano, the deceased, who sold provision in a kiosk in front of the abducted man, entered the victim’s car as the driver drove towards the direction of the kidnappers.
On reaching the creeks, the kidnappers, as gathered from the source, brought out Adoki from their vehicle and were heading to a waiting speed boat, when the vehicle that trailed them drove in.
The gang men were said to have opened fire on the occupants of the vehicle, and riddled Maikano’s body with bullets. He died on the spot, while his assailants escaped with their target.
The victim’s driver and an unidentified occupant took Maikano’s corpse to the police station and reported the abduction.
However, Chief Adoki was released on January 4, 2018, 21 days after his abduction. A ransom of N9 million as reliably gathered was paid before he was released from the creeks When news of the abduction and subsequent killing reached the Inspector -General of Police, he directed his intelligence and Response Team, IRT headed by Abba Kyari , an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP to fish out the perpetrators.
Police sources hinted that: “Between January 15, 2018 and February 5, 2018 operatives of the IGP- IRT deployed to Port Harcourt by the IGP, Idris Ibrahim, arrested six members of the kidnapping gang from different locations in Rivers and Bayelsa states. Two pump action guns were recovered from them.”
Identities of the suspects are: Justice Timothy (22), Akpos Livinus (33), Daniel Allen ( 27), kelvin Alpheus(30), David Abak( 29) , and Telkina Silva (26).
During interrogation Telkina Silva, said that he was maltreated by his boss, Adoki while under him.
He said “I worked for him as a driver between 2015 and 2016. One day I went into the office and met him romancing his girlfriend. Since then, he became mad at me and even refused to pay me for two months. Instead, he sacked me.
“In anger, I contacted Daniel (one of the suspects). I don’t know others. It was Daniel, who contacted Justice. I did not join them in the operation; I only monitored my former boss’s movement,” the sacked driver revealed.
Silva said “I got N1 million from the ransom. I used the money to start developing a plot of land at Okrika.”
On his part, 22-year-old Timothy admitted to be the gang’s leader, adding that they had to fire at occupants of the vehicle chasing them for alerting people.
“We did not intend to kill on that day. Our mission was just to kidnap the chief and take him to our hideout. But after abducting him, three persons started shouting . As if that was not enough, they drove after us to the riverside where our speed boats were. I was left with no option than to open fire on them because I handled an AK-47 during operation. I am in-charge of negotiations. My share from the N9 million was N1.8 million,” he said.
For Livinus, he said that his role was to coordinate the gang’s operations. He said “ I am the coordinator of the gang’s operation and I also arranged the weapons used during operation. Again, I sought for location of the stronghold in the creeks. My share from Chief’s ransom was 1.2 million.”
Efforts, according to police sources, were still on to arrest other fleeing members of the gang.
