Financial difficulty pushed me into kidnapping -undergraduate suspect

A student of the College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State, Terfa Godwin, has confessed his involvement in kidnapping.

Godwin was, yesterday, paraded alongside 14 other suspects by the Commissioner of Police in Benue State, Mukaddas Garba, at the command's headquarters in Makurdi for various crimes which included kidnapping, robbery, illegal arm manufacturing and cultism among others.

Speaking to newsmen, the suspected kidnapper, a student in the department of Political Science/Economics, said he regretted his action.

"It was financial difficulty that pushed me into the crime," he said.

Godwin confessed that he would write letters to his victims, threatening them to pay certain amount of money as ransom or risk being kidnap after the ultimatum indicated in the letter.

He admitted to have successfully extorted money from three people in that manner, adding that he usually carried out the operations alone.

Two of his victims who were at the police headquarters; Pande Emmanuel and Emmanuel Nenge corroborated the suspect's mode of operation, stressing that he wrote each of them letters and demanded that they drop specific amount of money for him at a specific place and time or risk their wives and children being kidnap.

The victims said they complied with the demand with Pande paying N25,000 and Nenge paying N300,000 to the suspect in May, this year.

Meanwhile, the police commissioner said Godwin met his waterloo when a victim from Vandekiya local government where he operated mostly reported to the police that some unknown persons have called and threatened him to pay them a sum of N2 million or they would kidnap and kill him.