DSS Arraigns Suspects Involved in the Kidnap of the NYSC Members at IMO State High court
The Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday arraigned five men in Imo State over the alleged kidnapping of 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and four other persons in the state.
Three of the defendants are accused of abducting the 20 prospective corps members on Independence Day, while the other two are alleged to have kidnapped four persons four days after the incident.
The five defendants face charges bordering on conspiracy, hostage-taking and unlawful possession of firearms.
Three of them, Usman Aliyu, 25, also known as Chonge; Babangida Aliyu, 21; and Mohammed Ali, 23, alias Smallie Pepper, are specifically charged with the kidnapping of the prospective corps members.
They were charged with conspiracy to commit hostage-taking, an offence punishable under Section 6 of the Imo State Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law No. 4 of 2009.
The DSS prosecutors accused the trio and others still at large of abducting the victims along the Owerri–Mgbidi–Onitsha Expressway on Independence Day.
The victims were travelling from Ibadan to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when they were abducted. They were rescued after seven days.
According to the charge sheet filed at the Imo State High Court, Oru Judicial Division, Mgbidi, the defendants were also accused of unlawfully possessing three AK-47 rifles, four magazines, a pistol and 81 rounds of live ammunition.
In a related case, 27-year-old Aminu Haliru and 20-year-old Tange Ibrahim, alias Jijji, were accused of abducting four persons around Owerri and Mgbidi on October 4.
Prosecutors alleged that Haliru, Ibrahim and others still at large collected N8 million as ransom for the release of the four victims.
They also face charges of unlawfully possessing an AK-47 rifle and a pump-action gun.
The prosecution listed N1.8 million as money recovered in the second case, while a DSS investigator and the victims were listed as witnesses in both cases.
