End of the road for fake kidnappers... They held the people of the town by the jugular not by their guns or bullets. The D Watch gang of Enugu held their victims in terror by mere phone calls and text messages. How did Ignatius and his gang accomplish the task of milking people by mere messages? When a resident of Enugu State particularly Nsukka receives a text message via his phone, what he first does is to pray or make a wish. Reason: it could be from a gang which would threaten to kidnap or kill him, child, parent, or spouse if a specified amount of money is not dropped at a given location within a stipulated period of time. And the pay, such a resident does. The fear of threat by the gang sending the message quickly became the beginning of wisdom for the teeming residents of the university town and environs. That, happily, is no longer the case at least from a couple of weeks ago. Residents of Enugu State and environs can now, at least, sleep with both eyes closed. Coordinated efforts and painstaking man-hurt for some perpetrators of heinous crimes in the affected communities have paid. Some of these bad eggs have been arrested. A notorious group, known as D Watch group, has now been apprehended by the police in the state. For residents of Nsukka, Wednesday, 18 September, 2013, was a day of great relief as news filtered to town that the leader of a notorious gang reportedly specialising in terrorising members of that community has been arrested. The group is identified as D Watch group, said to be notorious for kidnapping and based in the city. Saturday Mirror gathered that as part of their modus operandi, the gang sends text messages to would-be victims, who are the well-to-do in the society, demanding huge sums of money from them. It is reportedly led by one Ignatius Ejike Onyeke Ignatius, the gang leader, and his cohorts, would identify their prey, get their telephone numbers and go into a hideout and begin to send text messages to them. The gang, it is reported, usually threatens their victims with kidnapping should they fail to pay a certain amount of money that they would be asked to drop at a designated place. More often than not, the gang would issue death threats to their victims should they refuse to do their bidding. For a long time, this gang held the residents of the town by the jugular. But when they (residents) could not hold it anymore, they complained to the police who heard their groans and sprang into action. Based on the volume of text messages threatening kidnap and the huge payoff demanded by the gang coupled with the Save Our Soul messages of the victims to the police hierarchy, the anti-kidnapping unit of the Enugu State Police Command was placed on red alert by its Commissioner Abubakar Adamu Muhammed. A manhunt was launched for members of the group who had gone into hiding upon learning that law enforcement agents were on their trail. The efforts of the law enforcement agents, however, paid off that fateful Wednesday when they swooped on the No 4, Owerri-Ani village, Nsukka-hideout of the gang. At the hideout, the police found the alleged leader of the gang, Ignatius, and two others identified as Joseph Chukwuebuka Agbo and Emmanuel Onah. The three partners-in-crime were immediately whisked away to the state police command while investigations into their crime commenced immediately and a manhunt for the other members of the gang was launched. A resident of Nsukka, Francis, told Saturday Mirror that many residents of the town had suffered in the hands of the gang. According to Francis, “The news of the arrest of the gang members was a big relief to many people here. Though I have not come in contact with any of the gang members, neither have they sent such text messages to me, I have heard a lot about their activities. I think a lot of people had fallen into their trap so if they had been arrested truly, then I can say many will begin to sleep with their two eyes closed”. Confirming the arrest of the three suspects, Enugu State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, told reporters that items recovered from Ignatius and his gang included a handset containing the numbers used in their activities. “The suspects are cooperating well with investigators while search is still on for their partners-in crime,” he added. In the same vein, another notorious criminal in the same grade as Ignatius, Emmanuel Ossai, said to have been on the wanted list of the anti-kidnapping unit of the state’s police command, has been arrested. Ossai is said to also be cooperating well with law enforcement agents in their investigation of his crimes.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 22:31:47 +0000
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