A man simply identified as Gabriel has been arrested by the Ogun state police command for extorting money from residents over claims that he was paid to abduct and kill them.

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a hoodlum identified simply as Gabriel, who had been threatening residents of the Ogbere area with abduction and assassination to extort money from them.

According to Punch, the suspect was arrested on July 17, 2024, while attempting to withdraw money sent to him by one of the victims at a Point-of-Sale operator’s shop in the community.

A police officer who was privy to the incident said that a resident, identified only as Helen Orube, reported to the Ogbere Police Division that she had received a call from an unknown person named Promise.

The caller informed Orube that someone had paid him to abduct and kill her unless she transferred a specified amount of money to a particular account number

“She received a call from a man who identified himself to her as Promise on July 13, 2024. The suspect told her on the phone that he had been paid to abduct and kidnap her. Orube became frightened after receiving the call,” the police officer explained.

“While pleading with the suspect on the phone, Promise told her that the only way she could escape being kidnapped and k!lled was if she was willing to pay more than what the person who sent him was paying him. She sent the money to the account number that he provided.”

Terrified by the phone call, Orube immediately approached the Ogbere Police Division, where officers advised her to pretend to comply with the suspect’s demands

The officer said Gabriel was apprehended while attempting to withdraw the money he had demanded from the victim.

The spokesperson of the command, SP Odutola Omolola, who confirmed the arrest stated that detectives from the division had positioned themselves at strategic locations where the suspect was expected to collect the money.

“The victim sent the money to a PoS account. The police division had earlier sent officers to key places in the area, waiting for the suspect to arrive. He was immediately arrested by the men of the division," she said.

“Upon interrogation, he claimed that he was sent by another suspect named Jide to withdraw the money. Jide fled immediately after he realized that Gabriel had been arrested. Our men are working to arrest him.

“After identifying the arrested suspect, other residents made similar complaints that the suspect had received a huge sum of money, saying that he claimed he wanted to protect them from kidnappers. The suspect will be taken to the state criminal investigation department for discreet and further investigation.”