The Department of State Services (DSS) has arraigned five men before the Imo State High Court over the alleged abduction of 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and four other persons in the state. The defendants were brought before the court on Tuesday to face charges bordering on…...
The Department of State Services (DSS) has arraigned five men before the Imo State High Court over the alleged abduction of 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and four other persons in the state.
The defendants were brought before the court on Tuesday to face charges bordering on conspiracy, hostage-taking and unlawful possession of firearms in two separate cases.
In the first case, Usman Aliyu, 25, also known as Chonge; Babangida Aliyu, 21; and Mohammed Ali, 23, alias Smallie Pepper, were accused of abducting 20 prospective corps members along the Owerri–Mgbidi–Onitsha Expressway on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day.
The victims were travelling from Ibadan to their assigned orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when they were seized. They were later rescued after seven days in captivity.
According to The Nation, the DSS prosecutors accused the three defendants and other suspects still at large of 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.
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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.
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In a separate case, Aminu Haliru, 27, and Tange Ibrahim, 20, also known as Jijji, were charged over the alleged abduction of four persons around Owerri and Mgbidi on October 4.
Prosecutors alleged that the two defendants, alongside other suspects still at large, collected N8 million as ransom for the release of the victims.
They were also accused of unlawfully possessing an AK-47 rifle and a pump-action gun.
The prosecution listed N1.8 million as money recovered in connection with the second case.
A DSS investigator and the victims were listed as witnesses in both cases.