Youths foil kidnap attempt, suspects arrested in Lagos

Some youths in Lagos State thwarted an attempted kidnap of a car dealer on Ebute Igbogbo Road in Ikorodu Local Government Area on Tuesday.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects, including Taiwo Olayinka, Azeez Sodiq, and Saheed Moonstruck, had been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.

A viral video on Wednesday showed three suspects, stripped and covered in blood, and sitting inside a car while being repeatedly questioned and beaten by the youths who caught them after the failed kidnap attempt.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the suspects’ arrest through his handle on X.com on Wednesday.

Clarifying the crime, Hundeyin stated that the trio were suspected to be either thieves or kidnappers, adding that an investigation was underway.

He further stated that the suspects had been in police custody since the incident took place on Tuesday.

Hundeyin noted that efforts were ongoing to arrest the two remaining suspects who were said to have escaped.

“Three suspects, Taiwo Olayinka 30, Azeez Sodiq 33 and Saheed Moonstruck 23, have been in our custody since yesterday, shortly after the incident, and efforts are on to arrest the remaining two suspects that escaped. Meanwhile, the investigation has commenced,” he wrote.

Hundeyin indicated that the investigation would reveal the exact nature of their crimes.

He added, “The three arrested are the suspected thieves or kidnappers (investigation would tell which).”

PUNCH Metro reported in July that residents of Okoba Street in Orile-Agege foiled another kidnapping attempt by four armed men, wielding guns and cutlasses, who had previously robbed a pharmacy on Ogundele Street.

The residents prevented the suspects from kidnapping the store owner.

“The gunmen dragged the owner from the shop into his car that was parked outside, but the tyres got stuck in a bad portion of the road when they tried driving it away,” Alade had told our correspondent.