Ogun couple, accomplice kill hotelier, nabbed planning kidnap

The Ogun State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of three persons including a couple for allegedly abducting and killing the Director of Rolak Hotel, Abayomi Smith, in the Ijebu-Ode area of the state.

The couple, Larry Adewumi and his wife, Olufunmilayo, alongside an accomplice, Adebowale Sanni, were arrested two years after they allegedly committed the crime.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Thursday, said gunmen kidnapped Smith on September 28, 2020, around 7.30 am, at Anifowose Estate, Igbeba, Ijebu Ode.

Oyeyemi said, “On receiving the information about the kidnap, men of Anti-Kidnapping unit were mobilised to commence investigation but all efforts to get the victim out of captivity proved abortive despite the fact that the victim’s family paid a ransom of N15m to the abductors.

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 “Since then, police operatives have not relented in their efforts to fish out those behind the devilish act. The efforts of the SP Taiwo Opadiran led team yielded positive results in September this year when they got wind of a plan by the hoodlums to strike again. This time, the wife and son of Otunba Abayomi Smith were their targets.

“The team, having got the intelligence report, embarked on technical surveillance for the suspects, consequence upon which one of them was traced to Ikeji Arakeji in Osun State, where the 55-year-old Adebowale Sanni was apprehended.

“On interrogation, he confessed to have been on the trail of Yeye Olusola Ajayi, the wife of their earlier victim, Otunba Ajayi Smith in order to kidnap her, on the order of Larry Adewumi, the ring leader, whose wife Olufunmilayo, happened to be an employee of Otunba Abayomi Smith.”

Oyeyemi said Sanni confessed further that it was Larry who described the location of the victim’s hotel and his other business outfits to him with the instruction that if they succeeded in kidnapping the woman and her son, the two of them must be killed after collecting ransom in order not to leave any trail, just as they did to her husband two years ago.

“His confession led to the arrest of Larry’s wife, Olufunmilayo, who was a manager at the victim’s building materials shops. Larry himself was arrested three days later. He initially denied having anything to do with the kidnap of Otunba Abayomi Smith, but when he came into confrontation with Adebowale Sanni, his accomplice, he knew immediately that the game was up.”

The PPRO, however, said the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, commended his men for painstakingly following the suspects until they were arrested.

Oyeyemi said Bankole also directed that the arrested suspects be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.