By Tola Gbadamosi

Two members of human trafficking, kidnap syndicates who specialize in fleecing unsuspecting Nigerians through phoney job opportunities in neighbouring countries have been arrested by the Amotekun Corps.

The Hope gathered that the Corps arrested two members of the syndicates identified as Pitti Omolade and Ogunbayo Ayorinde, in Okitipupa after one of the victims, Midoye slipped of their hook

The Commander of Amotekun Corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said the human trafficking syndicate uploaded on the internet, a concept through which any interested Nigerians could get  job in the neighbouring countries.

According to him, “Whoever indicated interest would be asked to pay N650, 000 with the promise that they would accommodate the applicants and work in companies where there are vacancies.

Midoye said he fell for the bait and travelled to Paraku, a town over five hours from Cotonou, the capital city of Benin Republic.

He narrated:  “Arriving in the town, I saw 15 young chaps clustered in a room and it dawned on me, that I had been swindled.

“Immediately I entered the room and saw the young men lying on the floor, it became clearer that there was no job as presented by the organisers of my trip.”

“When asked how he got in contact with the fraudsters, he said it was through someone who was already in Benin Republic through the syndicate.”

He said that a member of the syndicate told him that a gold company was in heed of skilled workers at paraku, but realised that such information was a lie and thus decided to come back to Nigeria.

He said those at paraku got stocked because they had no enough money to convey them back to Nigeria, but was lucky due to the fact that he only paid N200,000.00 at of N65,000.00 claimed fom him.

According to Midoye, he reported the incident to Amotekun when he got to Okitipupa, adding that it was his report that led to the arrest of the syndicate’s contact person int eh town.

In another development, no fewer than 23 out of 75 suspects apprehended by the Amotekun Corps were paraded for different crimes, ranging from kidnapping, rape to robbery.

A gang of kidnappers operating in Akoko axis of the state was also busted as some of them were apprehended in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area of the state.

According to Adeleye, one of the kidnappers, Amadu Sede, was arrested four months ago having been shot and hacked in the head by his colleagues for refusing to kill a victim.

His words: “The Corps took him to Intensive Care Unit, where he spent 50 days before he regained consciousness, after which he went through series of surgeries.

“When he recuperated, he took our men to the hideout of the kidnappers, but they had relocated to Igbokoda from where they were apprehended.

He mentioned other members of the gang arrested to include 75-year-old, Alhaji Ibrahim, his son, Sulaiman Ibrahim, Mohammed Bello and Abdulwahab Saminu.

Adeleye said the kidnappers used some cattle as decoy to make residents in the community took them for herders.

Another gang of burglars, who specialised in stealing power generating sets, were also apprehended.

Olusoji Idowu and his partner were accused to have brought a truck from Ogun State and broke into different shops, where they stole the power generating sets.

Adeleye said the Corps were working on how to identify and arrest those who received the items from them.

Also, Femi Olagbede and Osuntunde Olorunwa were paraded for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl.

They were said to have picked the girl on their motorbike and took her to the joint where they took their turns in raping the victim.