A kidnap kingpin who had been in Police net in Bayelsa State, Digiteme Itua (Alias Seko), who allegedly spareheaded the abduction of six employees of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Okpoama Island, including four Koreans and two Nigerians in December, has escaped.
The Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Kingsley Omire, who disclosed this to journalists in Yenagoa during a briefing, also revealed that Hyundai Heavy Industries secretly paid a ransom of N30 million to the kidnappers without the knowledge of the command.
According to the police Commissioner, suspects linked with the abduction of the construction workers on December 17, 2012 were Romeo Egbo, Goodnews Amabebe, Dito Ologbo and Digiteme Itua. The police chief said the command still had in its custody another kidnap kingpin, Simeon Lalapu, whose gang abducted the paramount ruler of Okordia clan inYenagoa Local Government of the state, King Seiba, on August 25.
He further noted that following the confession of Itua, who claimed that he had four AK47 and several rounds of ammunition in Ogboinbiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government, security operatives left with him and Egbo for Ogboinbiri for the recovery of the arms. However, Itua and Egbo escaped into the swamp on the way to recovering the arms and ammunition as a gang of armed men, suspected to be comrades of the kidnappers opened fire on the security operatives escorting the suspected kidnappers.
