The Nigeria Police Force has uncovered details of the operations of a suspected “one chance” syndicate linked to the de@ths of Nurse Chinemerem Chukwumezie and Chinenye Bridget Abia, who d+ed about a month apart.
According to police findings, Chinenye was abd¥cted while commuting within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Despite her family paying a ₦3.5 million ransom, investigators said she was allegedly m¥rdered by her captors, who dumped her body near Katanpi Bridge along the Kubwa Expressway.
During interrogation and cr+me scene reconstruction, suspects allegedly demonstrated how they carried out their operations by dr¥gging, assa§¥lting and torturing victims to obtain bank details and ransom payments.
One suspect said: “So once they enter, that person is already at the back while I’m at the front. Then we’ll hold the lady… I’ll bring out the knife and tell the person to either cooperate and give us the money we need. Then we’ll use cord to tie the person’s hand and use a scarf to tie the person’s eyes.”
A survivor recounted the psychological and financial toll of the experience, revealing she lost over ₦11.5 million and other valuables.
“The PTSD of entering a car and the driver will just lock the door without even telling you… The first few weeks, I can’t see anything close to me. So it was very, very horrifying, actually,” she said.
The Commander of the Special Tactical Squad described the investigation as one of the most challenging operations undertaken by his team.
“This is one of the toughest tasks we had. We had to spend one year and five months to track them,” he said, adding that the gang mostly targeted female passengers because they were perceived as offering less resistance.
Police said investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest other members of the cr+minal network, while efforts are being intensified to recover we@pons, vehicles and other items linked to the suspects.
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