The 10-man kidnap gang, which abducted Prof Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been torn apart as a result of sharing the ransom collected for the release of the Queen of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom in Delta State.

The new leader of the gang reportedly bolted away with N1million share of another member of the gang.

The affected member, 32 –year-old Andrew, aka Olokpa, from Edo state, who was desperately in need of money, decided to go on a reprisal mission by forming a new kidnap gang and was caught by the police.

He is presently on detention at the Delta State Police Command headquarters in Asaba.

He was seized on Thursday when police, acting on intelligence information, lured him to sell one of the guns in his possession, which was used in the kidnap of the queen mother of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom.

His arrest was confirmed to newsmen yesterday, in Asaba by the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba.

Hired for the operation  The suspected kidnapper, who spoke to newsmen from the police cell, yesterday, however, asserted he was not among the main 10-man kidnap gang that abducted Prof Okonjo.

He stated that he was merely hired to supply food to Prof Okonjo in the bush, where she was kept on two occasions.

Commissioner Aduba, who maintained that that the police was not in support of payment of ransom to kidnappers and was not told by the family of Okonjo that they paid ransom to the kidnappers, told newsmen that nemesis would catch up with the remaining kidnappers, as the police have a database on them.

He confirmed our information that the second-in-command of the gang, who took over from the former leader and kidnap kingpin, Nwaeze Nwosa, a.k.a Bolaji, after he was shot dead by the police, Thursday, December 13, bolted away with N1 million share of the ransom kept for another member, Olokpa.

The gang members seriously disagreed on the action of the new leader and advised him to return Olokpa’s money to him, as he was the one in who took care of Prof Okonjo in their hideout.

The kidnap leader refused and Olokpa, who was in possession of the arms and ammunition used for the operation was in desperate money for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

He reportedly formed another kidnap gang, which went for an operation in Aboh in Ndokwa area of the state.

The gang successfully kidnapped the victim but was confronted on the way out by the vigilance group in the area, which riddled its vehicle with bullets.

“Since we know the hideout they planned to use, we strategized to lay ambush for them at the hideout, but because of the shooting by the vigilance group, the group diverted to Edo state, where they abandoned the vehicle used for the operation”, a source confided in our reporters.

NE gathered that the police detectives continued with the hunt for the gang and having discovered that Olokpa was in dire need of money, they sold a dummy to him that somebody wanted to buy a gun.

He fell for the deal and struck a bargain for N300,000 not knowing that he was speaking to a police detective.

The suspect came to Koka junction in Asaba to collect the money for the gun when the police arrested him.

He denied being the person that negotiated for the sale of a gun when he found that he was trapped.

However, it was difficult to extricate himself and he decided to escape, but he was shot on the leg in the process.

– Vanguard